Q1: How would you describe the Qatari market, what factors are driving change and how is Forcepoint addressing this?
The Qatari market and economy is guided by the National Vision 2030. This aims to make Qatar an advanced society capable of sustaining its development and providing a high standard of living for its people. This, in conjunction with the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 and a strategic goal to position Doha as the trade and transportation hub between Africa, Asia and Europe, has driven most of the nation's investment in a large number of infrastructure and development projects.
All of this means that for cybersecurity firms looking to help companies deliver on digital transformation, the Qatari market is ripe for development. But, as companies activate more data, it’s our job at Forcepoint to help them safeguard that data and intellectual property without slowing down their businesses, and keeping them open, accessible and operating at digital speed.
A key factor driving the market both in the ME region in general and in Qatar is the extraordinary digital transformation the market witnessed since 2020. With more employees working from home, the trend to transition to the cloud has accelerated, and the network perimeter has truly dissolved.
To simplify this process and help CIOs move to the cloud securely, Forcepoint is helping Qatari customers put together the building blocks for Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), which is the new approach to networking and security. As Forcepoint’s converged, cloud-based data-first (SASE) security solution enables organisations to efficiently use web, cloud and private apps, customers will be protected against advanced threats and data loss.
The Qatar National Vision 2030 has identified specific industries of growth that will help the nation become self-sustainable. Industrial development will drive the need for IoT and network security which would necessitate security solutions such as Data Guard and NGFW.
With new law enforcement from the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), all organisations need to notify any data breach incidents with 72 hours which really drives the need for a next-gen DLP (data loss prevention) solution. Modern DLPs need to deliver forensic evidence of course, but by delivering dynamic policy enforcement such as offered in Forcepoint DLP, customers are able to monitor employees’ actions without stopping them from being productive.
Q2: How can a company like Forcepoint succeed in Qatar? How do you work with channel partners?
Forcepoint’s business is built on successful partnerships with distributors, resellers and other channel partners including those providing services, systems integrators and managed services providers. Our mission is to create friction-free partnerships, foster a spirit of collaboration in the channel, and ensure that Forcepoint's customers receive unparalleled service and support. Securing and protecting our customers is our primary goal and nurturing a vibrant partner and alliance ecosystem is the first step in achieving that goal.
Channel partners understand that working with Forcepoint means partnering with a recognised market and technology leader. As the channel partner progress through each tier of Forcepoint's Global Partner program, their profit opportunities increase. The Forcepoint Partner Program ensures that the channel partners are adequately enabled and financially compensated for their efforts. The program provides financial differentiation to partners, including deal registration, tiered price structure, incumbency protection, incentive programs, access to marketing development funds and other marketing programs.
Having such a program has enabled us to grow the channel in Qatar. To build a successful channel business here, we must select the right channel partners with the right skills and capabilities to grow our mutual businesses. Goal setting and outlining commitment are essential practices of our engagement with channel; this secures and ensures our continued alignment. The significant focus on technically enabling our partners on all of Forcepoint's solutions plays a vital role in boosting their confidence while presenting our solution in the market.
Q3: What are the biggest challenges facing local Qatari businesses, and how is Forcepoint helping to overcome them?
The growing economy and the pandemic have presented a growing cybersecurity concern for organisations here. In this period of uncertainty and instability, we have provided continuous support to our clients while also ensuring our staff, partners and customers’ health concerns were put front and centre.
Of course we pivoted to remote working capabilities immediately in order to continue addressing our clients' business needs, and we worked closely with our direct partner ecosystem to ensure they too could safely continue work. The pandemic has not been kind to certain industry sectors, but on the other hand many businesses pivoted to remote working meaning different and in some cases additional cybersecurity measures had to be implemented.
In fact, in recent WSJ Intelligence research we commissioned, we found that 74% of CEOs and CISOs had reallocated funds to cybersecurity during 2020 and 45% have accelerated digital transformation. This presents opportunities but also challenges: when 90% of leaders believe the biggest challenge is securing anywhere workers and cloud services, it’s clear that infrastructure or access-oriented security tools will no longer be able to keep up with the needs of the unbound enterprise.
Converged, cloud-driven approaches will offer huge advantages as remote workers will have even more autonomy to innovate and drive business, but it also means that leaders must find new ways to secure distributed workforces and cloud applications, and drive collaboration and creativity.
This is where Forcepoint Cloud Security Gateway (CSG) can help. It’s the industry’s first data-centric SASE solution leveraging leading web (SWG), cloud (CASB) and data technologies (DLP) into a single converged cloud-based platform.
Forcepoint CSG provides visibility, control, and threat protection for users and data, wherever they are. Integrated functionality reduces time to value and ensures maximum capabilities are available. Eliminating multiple point products enables enterprises to cut costs, reduce complexity, and decrease operational overhead while eliminating overlap between product and security teams.
Q4: What are your expectations from the Qatari market in next one year?
The Qatari market has enormous potential in the coming year. We believe the more we invest in it, the higher will be our returns.
To do this, Forcepoint is continuing to grow and expand its channel ecosystem. We want to make it easier to do business with Forcepoint and in Qatar, as well as worldwide, we will enable the channel with more tools and more training. For example, we’ll deliver tools to channel partners to help them transact business more efficiently, and deliver training help them take the lead on all services implementation.
Our programmes are regionally executed, finding the right partner for each region, and during 2021 and 2022 we’ll be developing our local channel partners, ensuring they have the right skills and capabilities to take advantage of the opportunities offered in the market and grow their businesses.
Catch some of the top global cyber security experts speak at the Qatar edition of the World Cyber Security Summit which is officially powered by Forcepoint taking place on 7 July 2021.
About Forcepoint
Forcepoint is the human-centric cybersecurity company that understands behavior and adapts security response and enforcement to risk. The Forcepoint Human Point platform delivers Risk-Adaptive Protection to continuously ensure trusted use of critical data and systems. Based in Austin, Texas, Forcepoint protects data and identities for thousands of enterprise and government customers in more than 150 countries.
About World Cyber Security Summit
World Cyber Security Summit is a thought-leadership driven, business-focused initiative that provides a platform for CISOs who are looking to explore new-age threats and the technologies/strategies that can help mitigate them.
The series is virtually hosting CISOs across industry sectors who will meet, network, learn and engage with some of the world’s renowned technology thought-leaders, subject matter experts and technology innovators in a constructive, open-dialogue environment to find solutions for issues hindering their information/cyber security.
To register, visit - World Cyber Security Summit – Qatar.
For further details, please contact:
Karthik A
Marketing Lead
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