technologyreseller.co.uk 23 promote Avast as a solution to the security challenges faced by their customers. “I was looking at the government cyber breach report for last year, which came out in April, and it stated that just 10% of charities and 10% of businesses in the UK are aware of the Cyber Essentials scheme and only 22% have any type of incident plan in place. This is a big indicator of how little understanding SMBs have about what they should be doing to protect themselves and the importance of educating partners so that they can do what needs to be done to keep SMBs protected and in line with Cyber Essentials. That’s where our platform can help, for example by having an antivirus in place, a password manager and making sure that applications are patched within 14 days.” Winn adds that it’s not just a question of educating end user customers but also their supply chains. “Just look at what happened with Harrods, M&S and the Co-op. Leveraging something like Cyber Essentials and the Avast solution so that organisations can maintain security across their operations and their supply chains is going to be super-important now, particularly in light of all the media attention these breaches have attracted.” Next steps MSPs and VARs can find out more about the benefits of Avast solutions by applying for a free NFR licence from Avast or one of its distributors by contacting [email protected]. Extending its reach Having invested in its platform and enhanced flexibility for MSPs, Winn says that Avast is now looking to extend its reach within, and through, the channel. “We’re looking to do that through our partnership with Exertis and their Flex platform and by developing a strong channel community. We’ve got a great internal sales team here in the UK, absolutely focused on partners. Avast does do business through its website, but our team doesn’t do any direct end user business at all. It’s all channel. “Our aim this year is to double down on that to ensure more customers than ever can be protected when they’re online.” Education, education, education Clearly, channel partners have a vital role to play in achieving this aim, and to that end Winn is prioritising education of partners, to help them market and sell products and support packages, and to which is traditionally how a reseller or VAR would acquire Avast solutions. Emily Winn, Gen’s Head of Channel Sales North EMEA, expects monthly billing to be a popular option for MSPs and their customers, pointing out that organisations have become more budget-conscious since Covid and more reluctant to pay upfront for long-term commitments. “Previously, people would buy three-year licences because they were modelled to be more cost-effective if you committed upfront, but we’ve seen a dropoff in numbers. There’s more business uncertainty now and this new monthly model aligns well with that sentiment. A lot of the support partners we work with have already moved across to it for their own customer billing.” Winn adds that the combination of monthly billing and ease of use is a winning formula for the cost-conscious sectors in which Avast has traditionally done well, such as charities and not-forprofit, education and Government. “We have always done very well in the charity sector where we have a long-standing partnership with Charity Digital. The education sector is also strong for us. While we have discontinued our education program where we gave away licences for free, we still do segment discounts for charities, schools and anyone else in education and for government customers to help them meet budget requirements,” she explains. “Schools and charities, in particular, don’t have the internal knowledge or capabilities to manage more expensive or expansive solutions, so we have tried to develop a platform and a solution that allows them to roll out functionality as necessary and, as a business, to be super cost-effective for them too.” SPECIAL REPORT
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