Looking Ahead: Kaspersky Talks Channel Strategy For 2020

‘We have a world-class research team, we have an advance malware research team that’s the human element, the expertise that we call the bloodline of our business,’ says Kaspersky’s Rob Cataldo.

Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab is focusing on its new threat intelligence services in 2020 -- and that might mean more opportunities for partners.

“We want our partners to make a gross profit and that’s a people thing. That’s why I say good people build great organizations,” Rob Cataldo, North America managing director at the platform security vendor, told CRN.

Cataldo said that partners can achieve growth through those services.

“We have a world-class research team, we have an advanced malware research team that’s the human element, the expertise that we call the bloodline of our business,” said Cataldo. “They’re the ones that are looking at telemetry data that goes through machine learning, and then if there’s an anomaly where we can’t render a verdict, they look at that information and then they translate that into usable, actionable data.”

Coming Out On Top

Since 2017, Kaspersky has been banned from selling to the U.S. government following allegations of its ties to the Russian government, which the company has vehemently denied.

For this reason, Kaspersky partners, especially the larger businesses, saw more of a “reputational risk.”

Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky had reassured the company’s channel in a letter to partners “there is no such evidence because no such inappropriate ties exist.”

From then on, “Every single conversation I had and this was part of what I would tell my team — through the thick of the storm that we went through — is that every single customer is validating how effective and dependable our solutions are across the board, and I think that was invigorating to the team and a big reason why our top talent throughout this whole thing stayed with us,” Cataldo said.

Message To The Channel

“When you work with us it’s about being trustworthy, it’s about delivering on [promises] and being able to rely on the sellers on the Kaspersky side to do the right thing when it comes to a negotiation with an end user… as long as there is appropriate value that aligns with the business need,” said Cataldo.

Watch CRNtvto hear more from Kaspersky’s Rob Cataldo about where partners will see the biggest opportunities in 2020.