IT security company Sophos has teamed up with IT outsourcing specialist Stone Forest IT (SFIT), to offer managed security services for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Singapore.
The partnership will see SFIT integrate Sophos’s endpoint and gateway security solutions with its outsourcing service offerings. The suite of products and services will include IT management and technical support services, and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems.
Customers outsourcing their managed security service can benefit not only from a comprehensive set of IT management service deliverables including round-the-clock malware monitoring and support services, but also a lower total cost of ownership as the overall cost of managing IT security within the organisation is minimized says Sophos.
SFIT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chio Lim Stone Forest, one the largest accounting and business advisory group outside the Big Four in Singapore that focuses on mid-market businesses.
According to a study conducted by IDC entitled “SMB IT Investment Trends Survey 2008 – Software and Services”, 64 % of the SMBs surveyed in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region preferred to deal with a local system integrator or service partner when buying IT services.
Such a preference was particularly resonant among small companies. In the case of deciding on an IT services provider, SMBs in general ranked price, local knowledge and local market experience as top priorities, while mid-market businesses viewed personal attention and the turnaround time a partner can offer them, as important decision factors.
According to Sophos, the partnership will allow it to gain a deeper penetration into the SMB market in Singapore, especially local and foreign companies with less than 200 employees.
“By nature, SMBs are more vulnerable to security incidents than large enterprises as they typically do not have dedicated resources for IT management much less network security. Not only is the usage of instant messaging prevalent among SMBs, employees from these organisations also tend to be less informed about safe computing, which further exacerbates the risks of a malware attack or security breach,” said Jim Dowling, Director of Sales for Asia at Sophos.
“By making available our security and control offerings remotely without the need for any on-site software installation, and having SFIT lend its local market know-how to tailoring these services, we help remove the pain points and make network security even more accessible for SMBs in Singapore, especially those with fewer than 200 employees.”
Under this partnership, SFIT will integrate Sophos Endpoint Security and Control solutions into its comprehensive suite of products and services, spanning IT management and technical support services, and ERP systems. The integrated service offerings will offer SMBs a cost-effective, hassle-free and one-stop service approach to secure data management without having to engage in-house IT personnel for day-to-day administration.
According to Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, SMBs in Singapore are expected to spend US billion on IT this year, up 6 per cent from last year. They will spend about 20 per cent of their IT budgets on software, security, storage and networking. The bulk of telecom spending will be on services, with small businesses accounting for up to 75 per cent of Singapore’s total ICT spend. The top three vertical sectors contributing to ICT spending are wholesale. |
