As businesses across every sector face challenging marketplaces, Kaspersky held its 2020 European Partner Conference live and remotely on 16th June.
The day saw 800 participants across Europe tune in to hear a keynote from Kaspersky founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky and talks from the senior leadership team, which offered key insights on how to maximise business partnerships. The day was hosted by Chris Connell, Deputy VP, Global Sales Network, Director of European Operations at Kaspersky.
Alongside its regular partner program updates and ongoing support to the businesses it works with, Kaspersky’s 2020 European Partner Conference has underlined its commitment to supporting its partners. Supporting enterprise firms, small or midsized customers, the company has provided partners with what they need to be truly successful with customers of all sizes – not just to overcome the challenges they face today, but for the future.
The session covered a number of topics, including an update on the business threat landscape – which is critical for companies to stay aware of and be prepared for, especially in light of recent cybercriminal attack rates. Kaspersky researchers have seen a 43 per cent growth in scam attempts between January and March, as coronavirus infection rates climbed, whilst recent findings revealed that one-in-three of those attacked by ransomware is a business user, and with WannaCry still activating 20 per cent of ransomware attacks.
Chris Connell, Deputy VP, Global Sales Network, Director of European Operations, at Kaspersky said, “in challenging times when customers are reluctant to discuss major changes or replacement strategies for their cybersecurity infrastructure, it’s really important to understand their situations and be flexible in addressing how we can help.
“We all understand that now is not the time to jump to new strategies or consider more comprehensive replacements, but rather to look into the optimisation of the existing installed base, and protection layers, and understand specific business needs first. This is where our specialisations for partners can not only be helpful but also offer additional value for partners and their customers at the same time.”
Later, Chris joined Evgeniya Naumova, VP Global Sales Network, to discuss partnership aspects and welcomed questions from the audience. Evgeniya grilled Chris on several aspects of Kaspersky’s partner offering – acting as its partners’ voice and advocate – to explore how businesses can better consult, protect and support their customers in ways that better reflect the growing complexity in cybersecurity today. This year, Kaspersky is focusing on giving businesses more flexibility in using market development funds, redefining its rebates and including partners in the digitalisation of its sales strategy – amongst other partner-centric aspects.
Evgeniya said, “my wish is that everyone who is with us today can grow their business at maximum pace, despite external circumstances. They should also always consider how to adapt to new realities, and diversify and rebuild, not only to become more efficient, healthy and wealthy but to also help our world.”
During the session, Kaspersky also handed out a number of awards across Europe – including to OGL Computer in the UK.
Chris added, “these partners were recognised for taking advantage of new business opportunities, by offering advance security and services; developing future growth, by recruiting new customers and enabling Kaspersky products to achieve high rankings in market studies; and being committed to solid business growth,” comments Connell on the wins.
Equipped with insights from the conference, partners across Europe are being enabled to capitalise on new business opportunities – supported by the tools and technology Kaspersky offers to keep businesses safe in a heightened cyber threat landscape. Regional follow-up conferences will be held to help businesses on a more local scale, more details of which will be shared later.
