In an exclusive conversation with APAC Media and CXO Media, Sandeep Bhambure, Vice President and Managing Director, India & SAARC, Veeam Software, shares insights into Veeam’s differentiated approach to data resilience, its advanced Cyber Secure Program, and its vision for AI-powered data protection. He also delves into Veeam’s go-to-market (GTM) strategy in India, emphasizing strong partnerships, compliance with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, and support for organizations navigating multi-cloud and hybrid IT challenges.
How does Veeam differentiate itself in the highly competitive enterprise and cloud service provider space?
Veeam stands out in the market not only through its innovation and leadership but also by continuously introducing new offerings that address evolving customer needs. Veeam’s singular focus on data resilience, consisting of Data Backup, Data Security, Data Recovery, Data Freedom and Data Intelligence, makes it stand out from the rest of the competitors in the market.
Data Backup allows businesses to protect their data as they need it, wherever they need it. Our ability to offer a comprehensive backup on-premises or in the cloud for workloads or for services forms the foundation that Veeam has built since its inception.
Data Security is paramount in today’s world, where relentless cyber-attacks necessitate robust protection. We work closely and form alliances with security companies, especially as more data professionals continue to stress that their teams must work better with security teams. Through inline malware detection and integrations with security partners, we offer customers and partners increased cyber resiliency- a subset of data resiliency- so that they remain protected and/or able to bounce forward from an attack.
Data Recovery enables us to recover exactly what our customers need when and where they need it, to our customers and partners restore point and restore time objectives. It allows them to stage and orchestrate how they can restore and gives them options on where they can restore and at what level of granularity.
Data Freedom, powered by Veeam’s portable data format, allows businesses to protect all their data without vendor lock-in. This includes broad workload coverage, infrastructure observability for optimized reliability and costs, and multi-cloud mobility to move data across platforms with complete control and flexibility.
Data Intelligence enables businesses to make greater use of their data, whether that is using generative AI to manage their data or through gleaning insights from data that has been backed up. With data sets otherwise underutilized when at rest, this gives businesses the ability to put their data to work better without compromising data in flight
Also, one of the key differentiators is Veeam’s Cyber Secure Program, which is designed to provide end-to-end protection against cyberattacks.
This program involves implementing best practices in customer environments before an incident occurs, offering incident response training for teams, and providing comprehensive post-incident support, including data recovery, decryption, and even customer settlement. By partnering with leading global security firms like Palo Alto, Splunk, and CrowdStrike, Veeam leverages their capabilities through API-level integration, enhancing our data security without duplicating efforts. This collaborative approach with our security partners allows us to stay ahead of the competition and deliver more effective solutions to our customers.
What are the key pillars of Veeam’s go-to-market (GTM) strategy in India, and what specific initiatives have been undertaken to drive growth and adoption among enterprises?
Veeam’s GTM is centered around the strategic alignment of the sales team, focused on top-tier enterprises for comprehensive market coverage and engagement with key decision-makers. Veeam leverages a robust partner ecosystem comprising over 700 partners, including Reseller Alliance Ecosystem members like HPE, Cisco, and Lenovo, as well as Cloud Service Providers, Global System Integrators (GSIs) and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).
Key initiatives that are foundational to Veeam’s strategy include deepening partnerships with cloud service providers to evolve service offerings and working closely with ISVs for seamless integration and value-added services. Our commitment to meeting sector-specific needs amidst ongoing transformation and regulatory demands is reflected in the focus on high-growth sectors such as the public sector, government and Banking and Financial Services (BFSI). Moreover, we aim to democratize access to our robust data protection solutions for organizations of all sizes to benefit from advanced capabilities in backup, recovery, and ransomware resilience.
By prioritizing these pillars and initiatives, we are not only strengthening our market position but also empowering businesses across India to navigate the complexities of data protection effectively, safeguarding critical assets and enabling swift recovery in the face of cyber threats.
How is Veeam addressing the unique challenges faced by Indian enterprises in terms of data management and disaster recovery? Could you share an example of a recent success story where the company’s solutions had a transformative impact on an organization?
Veeam is addressing the unique challenges faced by Indian enterprises in terms of data management and disaster recovery by focusing on software-defined and hardware-agnostic solutions. This approach is crucial for organizations in India that are transitioning to multi-cloud environments and need agile, scalable solutions.
Veeam’s commitment to end-to-end data resiliency, including comprehensive ransomware mitigation strategies under the Bharat Cyber Suraksha mission, sets it apart in the Indian market. As businesses in India deal with increasing amounts of data across hybrid IT landscapes, Veeam’s ability to provide seamless protection and recovery for cloud workloads, SaaS, and modern applications like Kubernetes ensures that organizations can maintain data integrity and ensure business continuity amidst growing cyber threats.
A prime example of Veeam’s transformative impact is its partnership with Encora. Over their eight-year collaboration, Veeam’s solutions have empowered Encora to adapt rapidly to new technologies while ensuring their data is backed up and recoverable. As Encora integrated more technologies and shifted to the cloud, Veeam’s solutions ensured that their workloads remained protected without needing to switch providers.
Ransomware attacks are a growing concern. How does Veeam help organizations enhance their resilience against such threats?
Ransomware attacks are a growing concern, with their frequency and impact increasing year on year. Veeam’s 2024 Ransomware Trends Report found that 75 per cent of companies experienced at least one ransomware attack in the past year, and 96 per cent of cyberattacks targeted backup repositories.
Our approach to ransomware protection is focused on ensuring that critical data is always backed up and can be quickly restored to minimize downtime. With high-speed repositories, replicas, and snapshots, we enable swift recovery, reducing downtime that can otherwise last up to 3 weeks without effective recovery tools. Our security strategy integrates early threat detection, proactive threat hunting, and SIEM, allowing organizations to identify and neutralize threats before they cause damage. Our immutability, backup verification, and secure access help prevent re-infection and uphold data integrity.
Our comprehensive disaster recovery and hardened backup methods reduce the threat of ransomware while safeguarding critical assets. We offer a clear roadmap to improve cyber resilience, address emerging threats like Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), and ensure compliance with regulations such as India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act.
With the rapid advancements in AI and ML, how is Veeam incorporating these technologies into its offerings?
At Veeam, AI and ML play a pivotal role in strengthening data protection, particularly in the face of rising cyber threats like ransomware. Veeam has integrated AI and ML into its data-resilience strategy to enhance the speed and effectiveness of its backup and recovery processes. These technologies help detect anomalies in backup copies, which are often targeted by cyberattacks. By leveraging AI, Veeam can identify potential malware in these backups early on, sending proactive alerts to users. This helps businesses respond faster to threats and ensures the integrity of their backup data.
Veeam has also partnered with Microsoft to incorporate advanced AI technologies, such as large language models (LLMs), into the Veeam Data Platform. This collaboration enhances recoverability for workloads like Microsoft 365, allowing for more effective detection of malware behaviours in data sets. The integration of AI into Veeam’s offerings not only improves data security but also enhances the overall customer experience by providing more automated, intelligent responses to cyber threats.
Moreover, Veeam’s platform works in tandem with third-party security providers, ensuring a holistic approach to data protection. By combining AI with other security tools, Veeam offers a comprehensive defence mechanism that addresses the complexities of modern data protection. This integration makes it easier for organizations to secure their data, recover from attacks, and maintain continuity across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
How do you address customer concerns around data sovereignty and compliance in India’s regulatory landscape?
To address customer concerns around data sovereignty and compliance, Veeam works closely with hyperscalers and Indian-born cloud service providers to ensure data sovereignty is maintained. We align with the regulatory requirements of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, providing solutions that ensure data resilience and protection. While data sovereignty is critical for many organizations, we ensure compliance by offering secure and immutable backup options, either on-premises or in the cloud, with clear assurances from our partners in the ecosystem.
We emphasize a proactive approach to data protection, focusing on secure backups that are crucial in maintaining compliance with data privacy regulations. This approach, combined with strong encryption, access controls, and real-time vulnerability tracking, supports organizations in adhering to compliance requirements while safeguarding sensitive information. By integrating with robust security solutions, Veeam ensures that in case of any cyberattack, data recoverability and resilience remain intact, enabling businesses to maintain operational continuity without compromising on compliance.
How does Veeam contribute to the trend of hybrid cloud adoption in India?
As per a report by EY, 67 per cent of Indian organizations are currently in the process of transitioning applications to the cloud, highlighting the country’s strong push toward digital transformation. Veeam contributes significantly to this shift by offering flexible, platform-agnostic data protection solutions that ensure seamless data movement between cloud platforms like AWS and Azure. This flexibility allows Indian organizations to switch providers or move data across clouds without compromising security, ensuring they can meet evolving business needs while optimizing both on-premises and cloud environments.
In the context of hybrid cloud adoption, Veeam enables businesses to manage data across both on-premises and cloud environments with a single, unified solution. This approach simplifies data protection while addressing critical concerns such as compliance with India’s evolving regulatory landscape and safeguarding against increasing cyber threats.
Could you elaborate on the structure of Veeam’s channel network in India, the role of distributors and resellers, and how the company is enabling its partners to enhance customer adoption and service delivery?
Veeam’s channel network in India is integral to its 2024-25 go-to-market strategy, which focuses on an expansive partner ecosystem. This includes over 3,000 resellers and distributors, as well as value-added resellers, service providers, and global system integrators. These partners play a critical role in extending Veeam’s reach across Tier One to Tier Three cities, ensuring solutions are available to a wide range of customers. Veeam invests in partner growth by prioritizing skill-building, profitability, and innovation over traditional rebates. By collaborating closely with partners, we can deliver tailored solutions that cater to the diverse needs of different sectors. This enables partners to help customers with key challenges like ransomware recovery while driving adoption and service delivery.
As the Vice President and Managing Director, what is your top priority for the coming year in terms of expanding Veeam’s presence in India?
Our top priority for the coming year is to accelerate our leadership in data resiliency and cybersecurity. In an evolving threat landscape, we are committed to expanding our capabilities in AI-driven data protection, focused on both preemptive and real-time malware detection. By integrating AI into our solutions, we aim to provide organizations with the most advanced tools to safeguard their critical data for business continuity.
We place equal emphasis on data portability and optimizing multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies to address challenges such as vendor lock-in, enabling seamless data movement across diverse cloud environments. We continue to strengthen our partnerships with governmental and educational institutions to raise awareness about data protection and contribute to India’s secure digital future. Our commitment includes a collaborative effort to improve data privacy and security across the country – towards a Viksit Bharat.
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