Combating IT security threats

As the amount of global business done online increases, be it Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications or online data storage, so too do the security threats businesses are exposed to. Martin Kaiser was recently promoted to director of marketing for the Central and East European (CEE) region at Kerio Technologies, a company founded in Plzeň specializing in Internet security and communications and collaboration solutions for small and midsize businesses. We sat down with Kaiser to talk about how businesses in the region view security threats and their communications platforms.

The Prague Post: How would you characterize the CEE market for security software?

Martin Kaiser: The Central European countries are a bit different compared with West European countries, and the markets even differ within our region. Generally, people are not so concerned about security here. The situation is changing, and more and more people see security threats are increasing and the situation is becoming more and more severe. Many companies have already experienced some kind of threat, and that's causing the situation to change.

TPP: And from the communications side?

MK: Companies are pretty conservative … Of course, there are some pioneering companies.

It's hard to say if those come from a certain sector, but generally they are pretty conservative, and you have to show them what the possibilities of the new technology are. It goes hand in hand with the development of the telecommunications market in Eastern Europe. Here, we jumped directly from analog to mobile phones. People use mobile phones for everything, and many companies don't see why they need VoIP. So we have to show them how they can use it and integrate the products.

TPP: Are IT and network security threats getting worse?

MK: Not worse, but there are always new threats, and you have to be prepared. That's why it's important to have security software that's up to date with the latest version and the latest security software.

TPP: Which regional market is the most developed for security and workspace products?

MK: Kerio started in the Czech Republic, and everybody knows that name, so the Czech Republic is the most developed market for us, but compared with other countries like Poland, Russia, even Slovakia, our situation is different, although the markets are similar. We're not the only ones on the market, so we have to really find our way to the customers.

TPP: How do you set yourselves apart?

MK: We want to offer alternative solutions that are really simple and secure. Most solutions are for just one platform, like Windows, Linux, etc. … but we are multiplatform so we can support them all. This means nonhomogeneous environments where users use different platforms - and that also goes for mobile devices.

TPP: Isn't it difficult to compete in the United States, where there must be so many similar products?

MK: There are a lot of companies and many providers, so of course you always have to offer something unique. For us, it's being multiplatform. The products are developed in a way that always provides something that we use in the company ourselves. Some providers develop products with as many features as possible, but they don't think about the features the customers really need. It's better to keep the products as simple as possible so you don't need a 1,000-page manual to work with it.

TPP: Is there a trend among your customer demographic to move toward these types of work environments where all communication is integrated?

MK: That's what we see, even internally in our company. All of the teams - be it sales, marketing or technical - have to cooperate globally. Weekly meetings take place over VoIP, and these new types of communication tools should make cooperation more streamlined. It's part of the so-called unified communication trend, which includes voice, videoconferencing and text, and it should enable people to communicate and collaborate more effectively. We see a future in this.

TPP: What have the challenges been entering the Russian market?

MK: We're well-known in Russia too; people know the products, but now we have to deal with monetizing it. The old products were free, but now we are commercial and we changed our focus to small and midsize businesses, so we have to convince the market that we can provide business users with the right product. In the Russian market, most of the challenges are legal challenges because, although it's in Europe, it's not in the European Union, so the legislation is different. For example, in Russia, it is very important to get the right certification, and we're currently applying for this. It should only take a few months. Then we can do business with companies that deal with personal data, which these days is almost every company.

Emily Thompson can be reached at
ethompson@praguepost.com