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FEBRUARY 2006
Who will sell the most products?
So who is going to sell the most security products in 2006? 2 years ago I was speaking to a group in Las Vegas and made the statement "Veritas is becoming more of a security play". At the time I had no idea Symantec would buy them. Since that time, it seems like every major manufacturer is looking at security to provide differentiation, from adding to their existing value proposition to recreating the entire organization around security (with the exception of one that still seems to be struggling to gain some type of identity). Two camps seem to be emerging, but success may not be completely technology related.
1. How will you approach security?
Terms like, "Self Defending Network", "Integrated Network Security", and "NAC (Network Admission Control or Network Access Control, depending on whether you are talking to Cisco or Mcafee ), all point to a network approach to securing the infrastructure. We are seeing more security built right into the network itself making it impossible for resellers to differentiate between network product sales and security product sales (Best of luck to those individuals trying to hit a security product quota). Not a bad strategy for those companies selling high volumes of network product!
Of course those companies in the software business have made the computer "...the network". Two companies come to mind who have somehow managed to confuse IT organizations. At some point a marketing genius was successful in convincing the market that the "computer is the network", whether it came in a red box, a pizza box, or at some point got shipped on a Dell computer. In any case we have yet to see a secure network in this form.
Finally we have the approach of building security as a separate appliance or software program. Started at the network perimeter and building out to the workstation, or owning the workstation, and building back to the network - someone is going to win this race. At some point we need all of this to work together to provide security around digital assets. Can all of these approaches co-exist?
2. The partner strategy
But what about the partner strategy? One thing all of these companies have in common is the need to sell more product. A two point strategy is being used in almost every case - a focus on partners to drive the actual product sale and a strong effort to reach the untapped SMB market. The problem with this is that the partner's profitability model isn't what the manufacturers think it is. This introduces a third approach - a small group of companies rising up to build a managed services model with monthly reoccurring revenue. While these companies did not begin their journey with security at the forefront, they are moving there quickly (Someone was thinking). While all of these security approaches have merit, the one who creates partner profitability will likely win. Who will finally figure this out? If you are on the manufacturer's side, understanding how the partner makes a profit will be the key ingredient to success. On the partner side, choosing a company that provides a profitable program - one that helps you build bottom line profit and company shareholder value, is the only way to go. In both cases, everyone needs to learn how to position a security strategy within the markets you are serving. |
