McAfee increases focus on growing SMB market

McAfee has announced increased focus and updated security solutions specifically designed to meet the needs of today's small to medium sized businesses (SMBs).  According to AMI Research the worldwide market for security solutions in the Small and Mid-sized business segment is about $5.1B growing at a CAGR of about 9% annually*.  McAfee will offer SMBs the same level of protection as enterprises in an easy to manage solution that is tailored for the needs of cost constrained SMB budgets.  Because the channel is critical for growth within this market McAfee has designed a programme that accelerates growth, offers marketing support, includes great sales incentives all with increased profit for SMB partners.

 
SMBs are in a unique situation when it comes to defending themselves against the rising tide of cyber threats that cover the business and technology landscape. They can't afford high-priced IT and security talent on site; they can't afford a breach that threatens their very existence, and they know that the space they occupy is going to attract more, not less, attention from the hacker community. Additionally, the proliferation of mobile devices driven by the need for any time any place access to company data and service is adding to the enormous challenge of keeping these companies secure with limited IT resources.
 
"SMBs face the challenge of increased threats including spam, phishing, viruses and Web attacks that can easily disrupt the network and the livelihood of the business," said Gavin Struthers, senior vice president of worldwide channels at McAfee.  "Without constant updates, security software becomes obsolete. Keeping the business continuously up to date requires total protection against known and unknown threats.  McAfee understands the unique needs of the SMB."

SMB Channel Focus

Millions of SMBs are in search of a trusted security advisor representing tremendous growth potential for McAfee and its partners. Over the past year, McAfee has made several strategic investments to provide channel partners the innovation, differentiation and simplicity required to accelerate growth and drive mutual profitability in the SMB market.  McAfee provides partners a comprehensive SMB offering that includes:

• McAfee Tailored SMB Solutions From Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) to on-premise suites covering email, Web, and endpoint security, McAfee provides custom designed solutions built specifically for the SMB.
• McAfee SMB Specialization Allows partners to take advantage of a full range of enablement tools, turnkey marketing programs, and exclusive profitability programs. Since the program launched nine months ago, McAfee has recruited over 2,000 SMB Specialised channel partners worldwide.
• McAfee SMB Deal Registration Offers partners up to 25% in enhanced margin and a four-hour approval commitment.  Launched just nine months ago, the SMB Deal Registration programme experienced a nearly 50% increase from the previous quarter in registered deals in Q1 2012.
• McAfee Rewards Compensates partner sales reps for selling qualified McAfee SMB products. For Q2 2012 the SMB Extravaganza Rewards program has tripled its payout for eligible SMB products.
• McAfee SmartMarketing Available in June, 2012, this new e-commerce marketing platform will allow McAfee partners to quickly and easily download and co-brand demand generation marketing assets, including the assets for the McAfee SMB solutions.

SMB Solutions

McAfee security suites for SMBs safeguard a business' desktops, file servers, and email serverswith the convenience and ease of maintenance of a single, integrated SaaS solution.  With an eye towards the importance of the SMB space, McAfee has added significant functionality to the latest version of SaaS Endpoint, giving customers tremendous scheduling flexibility in the downloading of crucial security updates. This way, the updating process is not disruptive and takes place during off-peak hours. McAfee has taken a good, better and best approach to packaging the solutions for SMB customers and now provides the following suites:

• McAfee SaaS Endpoint Protection SuiteDefends the devices on your network on all attack routes this all-in-one flexible security protection gives SMB customers the freedom to deploy security on their terms
• McAfee SaaS Endpoint and Email Protection SuiteAdds protection from malicious email content before it enters the network, email continuity to ensure uninterrupted access to email, and client-side web category filtering
• McAfee SaaS Total Protection SuiteAdds email encryption and pre-built compliance libraries to protect sensitive data and meet compliance requirements, and cloud-based web filtering for antivirus, antimalware, and category filtering to ensure unwanted content never makes it into the network

McAfee offers SMBs the same level of desktop and network protection as enterprises but with a solution tailored for SMB's that lowers the complexity and cost. McAfee understands SMB constraints and has developed the most comprehensive security solutions in the industry. McAfee business security software delivers complete antivirus, antimalware, email protection, and other critical security designed for the SMB customer.