Security software vendor McAfee (NYSE: MFE says data loss protection is a trend that will increasingly drive the IT security market going forward, and to address it vendors and partners will have to go deeper into the enterprise and address security at the data level.
In a reversal of the usual model, this time it’s actually the business executives that are coming to IT and saying we need data loss protection says Andrew Berkuta, senior security evangelist with McAfee.
“It’s an interesting paradigm,” said Berkuta. “They’re the ones that have to sign off and will be held accountable in the press, and they’re scared.”
The new threat is at the data level, says Berkuta, and data is key. It’s what the criminals are after. Previous technologies from a network endpoint protection perspective didn’t do much to protect data at the data level, says Berkuta. With iPods and memory sticks, it’s too easy for someone to walk away with the company jewels, even without malicious intent.
“It’s all about data in this day and age, and that’s the level we have to go down to,” said Berkuta. “We need to ensure only the right people can access it, copy and manipulate it.”
By bringing security down to the data level, he says, it doesn’t matter where the data resides. If the data is encrypted, a lost hard drive is just a hardware replacement issue. Berkuta adds data level protection can also help companies meet their compliance requirements.
“If we can show we’re handling data appropriately, have the proper records and metrics, and can and show data is being handled in an appropriate way, that helps a lot with compliance,” said Berkuta.
With this new approach to security, Berkuta says McAfee will be relying heavily on its channel partners to bring it to market, adding there will be strong channel opportunity around data level protection.
“It’s a phenomenal opportunity to help a customer not boil the ocean, but do this in consumable steps that can be managed,” said Berkuta.
A lot of it will be project management, he says, drawing on the partner’s intimate knowledge of their client’s business to walk them through the process in a way that makes sense for their business, starting with an area such as human resources, for example.
Berkuta adds McAfee has mandatory partner training and a separate certification for data level protection to ensure partners have the requisite skillsets, and to assure clients they’re working with a partner that knows its stuff.
Michelle Warren, a senior analyst with London, Ont.-based Info Tech Research Group, says protection at the data level is important because data is becoming ubiquitous. It’s everywhere, from our work PC to our Blackberry and our laptop, and she says data can no longer just be protected at a single device; it must be protected at the data level when it’s created.
“It’s a bit of a marketing spin, protect at the data level, but at the same time it is important,” she said, adding there will be a larger role for the channel to play. “IT seems to be shifting towards more of a consultant-enabled sale, it’s no longer just a box sale, and I think data level protection will follow that natural migration. It’s no longer about the boxes; it’s about the whole solution.”
New Canadian leadership
Like Berkuta, McAfee’s new Canadian general manager, Ross Allen, also wants McAfee’s partners to drive “deeper nails” with their clients.
Allen joins McAfee from Copan Systems, a Denver, Colo.-based enterprise storage company. His background also includes stints as president of InfoStream Technologies, a Richmond Hill, Ont.-based systems integrator acquired by Bell, and as Canadian country manager for EMC Corp.
The first task for Allen will be to grow McAfee’s footprint in Canada, with the focus on expanding the vendor’s marker share in the corporate, enterprise and mid-market spaces. He’ll also be reporting directly to McAfee’s senior-vice president of North American sales, rather than a geography manager, which Allen says will make the Canadian perspective heard more loudly at McAfee’s Santa Clara, Calif. headquarters.
That new reporting structure is already paying off, says Allen. McAfee is adding headcount across the country, and is moving into a larger office in Toronto.
With the size and breadth of the Canadian market, including the multiple time zones, Allen says he’ll be relying on the channel to help him build-out McAfee’s footprint, particularly given the often diverse regional needs of the Canadian market.
“We want to use channels to get geographic reach and vertical penetration,” said Allen. “You need face time to get footprint. We need to focus on vertical segments but you can’t verticalize totally in Canada, so geography will be important too.”
In Canada, says Allen, if you’re not a McAfee client you’re probably someone else’s client, so the task for McAfee and its partners will be convincing those clients they’re better, and going deeper with existing clients will also be key.
“The V (of VAR) is the key. How do you get to the V? Everyone has the R,” said Allen. “I’d tell my channel make sure you focus on the V, that’s what separates you form other resellers, and clients today are looking for value.”