By Denise A. Valdez
Reporter
YANGON, MYANMAR — Kaspersky is keeping its double-digit growth forecast for its Philippine business, amid the government鈥檚 efforts to boost cybersecurity awareness.
The Russia-based cybersecurity firm said it is expecting more than 20% growth in its business-to-business (B2B) segment in the coming year. For Southeast Asia, Kaspersky said this segment is growing at a faster rate to account for half of its business in the region. The other half comprises of business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.
鈥淚 would like to see on my B2B business — which is the SMB (small and medium-sized business) and enterprise business — in the Philippines, next year, growing at least a good double digit: 20+%. I think that鈥檚 not unrealistic to expect,鈥 Kaspersky Managing Director for Asia Pacific Stephan Neumeier said in an interview on the sidelines of a company event here last week.
He said the Philippines is Kaspersky鈥檚 third fastest growing market in Southeast Asia in terms of the B2B segment, with an average 10% annual growth. In terms of revenue growth, the country is also among the top five contributors for Kaspersky in the region.
鈥淜aspersky has a very strong brand in the Philippines… Customers love to work with us because they understand that we understand our business,鈥 Mr. Neumeier said.
Yeo Siang Tiong, Kaspersky鈥檚 general manager for Southeast Asia, noted this is largely due to the Philippines鈥 high awareness of cybersecurity issues, citing the information campaign implemented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
鈥淭he timing is also ripe. If you look at the development of the Philippines, DICT is setting up a very aggressive journey to educate everyone. They go from one town to another town talking about cybersecurity awareness. And this is something that I didn鈥檛 see in any other country,鈥 he said.
鈥淪o that has raised quite a fair bit of awareness in the private sector. Of course, we have benefitted from it,鈥 he added.
The other factor, Mr. Yeo said, is the country鈥檚 high literacy in information technology because of the proliferation of business process outsourcing companies in the Philippines.
The DICT is currently implementing its National Cybersecurity Plan 2022 which aims to improve cybersecurity education in the country. It involves training cybersecurity experts to increase the country鈥檚 pool of professionals and strengthening 鈥渃yber guards鈥 that will protect government agencies holding critical information and data.
Kaspersky signed a memorandum of understanding with the DICT last year to help the government in its cybersecurity initiatives.
Mr. Neumeier said the growth potential in the Philippines is pushing Kaspersky to boost its investments in the country. A two-year plan will be developed in the coming months to determine Kaspersky鈥檚 expansion targets in each country where it is present, and he expects the Philippines to be one of those with increased investments.
鈥淲e look into those countries who are already contributing to our growth, where we can already see the right trend. For those particular countries, we need to keep investing. Philippines is most likely one of them,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a growing market for us.鈥
Both Mr. Neumeier and Mr. Yeo said several sectors in the country are still in need of developing a cybersecurity mindset.
Mr. Yeo cited the industrial and health care sectors as examples, and noted the digitalization of these sectors鈥 operations poses the impending need for security measures.
鈥(The systems in these industries) tend to be isolated by themselves previously. But today, they are also beginning to be connected… When the connection happens, there鈥檚 a lot of exposure (to cyber threats),鈥 he said.
鈥淚n countries like the Philippines, the customers are 鈥極kay, I don鈥檛 have the budget to invest in that. And so far, nothing happened,鈥… But tomorrow it could be completely different. So we need to drive this awareness in specific verticals in the Philippines,鈥 Mr. Neumeier added.
