Avocado Security, a Fairfax, Va.-based software vendor of on-demand security and business intelligence (BI) optimization platform software solutions, is looking to within the next several months, expand its presence in the Canadian marketplace, the company’s CEO said.
Kevin Shahbazi, the CEO of Avocado Security, said company’s expansion North of the boarder means finding new channel partners to work with and adding to its existing North American channel base of 12 partners.
The company, which primarily does business in the U.S., also does business in Europe and South America, he adds. Avocado Security currently does not do any business in Canada, however, if all goes well, Shahbazi says that will soon change.
“I strongly believe in the channel and in partner programs,” Shahbazi said. “Anytime we go into a new environment, I want to go in with a partner that will be able to help us because they know the locale and the customers. We’re talking to an IT-type of organization now that’s based in Montreal and they have solid access to both East and West (Canada). We’re not yet doing business in Canada, so this would be our entry-way into the Canadian marketplace.”
If this partnership agreement goes through and as planned, Shahbazi says he expects to make an announcement with the partner within the next three months or so.
Eventually, he’d like to see channel partnerships with as many as 48 partners, but there’s no rush to get these established right away.
“How fast do I want to grow the partner (network)?” he asked, “I want to get up to 48 partners but I’m not in a rush because I want this to be solid. We’re looking for key dealers, so anyone involved in the security world would be a good partner to have. Right now, we do about 20 per cent of our business through the channel. If I can get this to 80 per cent in the next two and half years, that will be really good.”
Avocado Security currently has three software solutions available in its portfolio which include, Avocado Security Express, Avocado Security Business Edition and Avocado Security for Enterprises.
The software solution is an automated, Web-based tool that runs in the background, in conjunction with security cameras and on a business’ DVR (digital video recorder). The software takes the images that are motion captured by multiple security cameras and then processes them through the DVR, which then gets transformed into business metrics, in the forms of charts and graphs and a comprehensive report, which is then sent to managers across the enterprise. Because the solution is policy-based, Shahbazi said users can set how often they’d like to be notified with alerts and reports, whether it is on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. With the help of the reports, management can gain visibility into certain parts of the organization, for instance, seeing how many people walk in a certain area and what the peak times for traffic are. From here, these decision-makers can make sound-business decisions based on measurable results, Shahbazi explained.
“We target two different segments in the market;” Shahbazi said, “businesses with a security need and businesses with cameras. Our solutions are capable of providing operation continuity, regional intelligence, BI and centralized security management.”
The software is sold on a monthly-basis and users can take advantage of the solution as long as they’d like, Shahbazi said. For the Express Edition and for 16 cameras, the starting price is $169 per month.
For the Business Edition, it’s $299 a month and for the Enterprise Edition, it’s $999 per month. Partners can expect to see double digit margins on these solutions, he added.
As far as software implementation goes, Shahbazi says if a business has 16 cameras, this can be set up in as little as 30 minutes. All that’s needed to get the solution up and running is an IP address and the DVR address noting where the files are. From there, end-users can manage the solution locally and they can also access it globally since it’s a Web-based software tool.
“My message to channel partners is that there’s lots of money still left on the table when security solutions are rolled out to customers,” he said. “Customers are hungry and they’re looking for service and good partners to help them be more secure and efficient in their daily operations.”