Solution providers and systems Integrator Companies require to be on top of their game in the challenging and fast growing domain of cyber security. Mumbai headquartered Meta Infotech offers Professional Training on Cyber Security, Implementation / AMC Services, Sustenance , Professional Services to Vendors with 24/7/365 days and Money back Guarantee on all its services. Venu Gopal Peruri, CEO, Meta Infotech told ChannelWorld India in an extensive interview, we are only of the few companies in the world that is a 100% focused Cyber Security Solution Provider.

Edited Excerpts. 

Cyber Security is much more than AV, IPS, Firewall and technologies of yesteryears. What are significant security trends do you see in India?

Organizations across varied verticals want to invest in next-gen, innovative and newer technologies to remain secure and safe from attacks. The key trend we see is around Cyber Security Framework and Infrastructure and surprisingly many organizations haven’t yet adopted a Cyber Security frame work to secure their network. 

Organizations will be keen to adopt solutions and technologies that can help them predict and prevent cyber security instances in real time wherein Artificial Intelligence using machine learning comes into play. With the increasing adoption of cloud technologies, cloud security becomes an imperative step towards securing data in cloud.

What new technologies have you added to your security portfolio and what has been the uptake by enterprises?  

We are a conservative company in adopting new vendors not technologies because we only deal with large corporate companies. Our largest customer base are from BFSI & IT/ITES and we also have presence in Pharma and Manufacturing. We don’t promote any technology unless we have L3 level Technical Consultant in house. We also do not carry two technology vendors for similar technology/solution. We have a policy to be a Professional Services Partner first before we sign in with a vendor. 

However we added Smokescreen and Darktrace in our offerings in the past one year. We do look for vendors who have more technically advanced solutions for large companies. 

We are a platinum partner for Symantec/ Blue Coat partner for end point, network and cloud security. Apart from Symantec we are gold partner for Palo Alto Networks (NGF). We are solution partners for Imperva (WAF and DAM), Smokescreen (Deception) and Dark Trace (Network Forensics). 

What are typical pain points of CISOs and CSOs and how does Meta Infotech solve or resolve them?

According to me, the biggest challenge the CISOs are facing are good technical in-house resources. The MSS vendors that manage their security infrastructure are not to their satisfaction as the engineers at the ground are not trained enough or experienced enough for a proactive sustenance of the security infrastructure. 

Meta offers them a complete end-to-end service right from implementation to sustenance of the solution with 24/7/365 days support with Money back Guarantee. We are also in the process of signing up with top systems integrators to provide them with similar services for their projects / clients.

How has been Meta’s journey in past two years of operation because security is a crowded market with too many players? Any noteworthy achievements you and your team are proud?

The last two years has been complete turnaround for Meta Infotech. After the exit of two of our directors, we as a company have bounced back with greater vigor, commitment and unmatched story.  

We have tuned ourselves to be the only focused Cyber Security Solution provider in India and today 100% of our business is related to Cyber Security solutions only. Meta Infotech grew 120% last year (YoY) and we expect to grow at least 75% in turnover and 300% in our services revenue this year. We also grew from 15 employee company 2 years back to 60 as of today with 97% of the force as technical consultants.

As part of our CSR activity, we have started one of India’s first Professional Cyber Security Training Institute with assured placement to cater to the huge demand for trained technical resources the industry is facing. 

Meta is probably the only company in the world offering Professional Training on Cyber Security , Implementation / AMC
Services , Sustenance , Professional Services to Vendors with 24/7/365 days and Money back Guarantee on all our services.

How difficult it is to convince end organizations about a new product in India? Any suggestions for tech OEMs to have a good
handholding with their channel ecosystem?

We are not exclusive channel partner for any of our vendors but we are an exclusive Professional Service provider for many of our vendors. However it’s not difficult to promote new vendor or a technology as long as the solution is right with a fool proof support system. 

Vendor companies should focus on few partners who are willing to work along with them without a competitive vendor. They should give good margins (Subjective) to partners and try to protect them from encroaching partners. And they need to concentrate extensively on training and make channels as service partners in their regions. 

  CISOs should identify and work with partners who has good technical skill sets with a penchant towards services business. At the same time, they should not squeeze their service cost as it’s nearly impossible to find and train good engineers; and most importantly retain them.

Venu Gopal Peruri

What’s your bucket list for CISO and CISOs in India as you and your team interacts with them regularly over the years?

I am no one to suggest however the only suggestion to them is to identify and work with partners who has good technical skill sets with a penchant towards services business. CISOs should identify and work with partners who has good technical skill sets with a penchant towards services business. At the same time, they should not squeeze their service cost as it’s nearly impossible to train good engineers and most importantly retain them. 

How have you aligned tour pre sales and technical resources because industry reports suggest huge shortage of skillsets of cyber security professionals?

97% of our work force are technical consultants which means 58 out of 60 employees are engineers. However we are still short of about 50 engineers to be placed in various projects and organizations. It’s difficult to find the talent as the whole industry is facing the similar situation. 

That’s the reason we decided to start our own Cyber Security training Institute to churn out good technical engineers for ourselves and for the industry. It’s an extensive three month training program with one of classroom / white boarding on 28 technologies with two months of hands- on experience in 6 technologies, 3 end point, 2 network and 1 cloud security. 

Engineers from vendor companies’ and CISOs will be part of the training program as guest lecturers. Once the engineer completes the program he will be equivalent will be equivalent to any engineer with 2-3 years of experience. 

What is the definite expansion plan for Meta Infotech for the next three years? 

We have started our presence in Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi. We will start operations in Bangalore in two months’ time and we will add Chennai next year. Looking at the current situation and the future demand Meta Infotech will be a 100 employee company by end of this financial year. 

Our vision is to be the biggest Cyber Security Solution provider for the large enterprises by the year 2021. We would like to be the service hub for large systems integrators, vendors, distributors and partners who can avail all our services for their esteemed customers.