Asigra outlines plans for partner growth

Cloud vendor Asigra this week vowed to aggressively pursue a bigger share of the backup software market.

The Canadian firm also used its Cloud Backup Partner Summit in Toronto to denounce vendors that devalue the market by offering heavy discounts on products. Indeed, CEO and founder David Farajun, went so far as to refer to the practice in his keynote presentation as ‘Competitor Tactics = drop your pants’.

The firm emphasised its focus on adding value and providing extra support to its partners – as well as increased product functionality – as opposed to slashing prices. “If you sell on price, you’ll fight your way to the bottom,” agreed Gareth Dryden, storage product manager at Zycko, Asigra’s sole distributor in the UK.

Brand building

Asigra was an early pioneer of backup technology back in 1986, when it developed a platform that delivered backup and recovery services over telephone lines. Now analysts estimate the market for cloud backup services is worth approximately $2bn, and growing rapidly. Dryden says the distributor is seeing more traction from traditional resellers looking to sell more managed services.

Cognisant that it’s competing against giants such as Symantec and IBM Tivoli – which between them own the lion’s share of the overall backup market – the firm is looking to increase brand awareness among customers and the channel.

Despite the challenge of building its brand worldwide, Asigra is the only Canadian software vendor included in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Disk-Based Backup/Recovery. The company has also grown from 250,000 to 400,000 installations worldwide over the last year.

On the product side, the firm just announced the launch of Asigra Cloud Backup v11, which includes data protection for handheld devices, including tablets and smartphones. Asigra says the new software is the first enterprise-class cloud backup platform to protect the entire digital footprint (storage, servers, desktops, and laptops on the enterprise LAN as well as remote tablets, smartphones, and laptops).

Marketing focus

Meanwhile, executive vice president Eran Farajun says the firm is looking to develop stronger links with the channel, urging partners to view Asigra as “not just a technology provider…and more of a business partner.

“We have been very product and technically-focused in the past, but we realised Asigra had to change,” said Farajun, who went on to reveal a more strategic focus on sales and marketing. “We want to offer value beyond software; it’s no longer just a technology game.”

He announced the vendor was re-booting its ‘Powered by Asigra’ initiative – a logo programme the firm wants to bolster with marketing services. “We weren’t happy with it; we wanted to make it more meaningful,” he explained.

“We will become your virtual marketing department, providing more collateral, insights and campaigns,” he told service providers. To this end, Asigra has hired creative agency Blammo, which is currently soliciting feedback from partners, with a view to launching a host of new marketing services sometime in Q4 this year.

Recruitment

In the UK the firm has just less than 100 partners. These include Backup Technology, Databarracks, Interxion and Parachute IT.

While Farajun says the firm says the firm isn’t looking to add too many more new partners in the UK, David Farajun said the firm is focusing on recruiting in its target markets of India, China, Brazil and North America, and hopes to double its current figure of 500 partners worldwide.

Farajun also took the opportunity to reassure partners “We’re not going direct; we’re not creating a service offering, unlike some of our competitors. We are 100 percent channel-focused, which is working famously. You don’t fix something that’s not broken.”