Six years ago the reseller I was with tried to
bringIngrian Networksinto the UK, but
there was little interest. Business had been good in the US, so it
was disappointing not to get a bigger take-up. Today, I am back
with Ingrian Networks and sales are booming, as they were in the US
all those years ago.
There is a gulf of difference in attitudes towards security
technology in these two markets. In
Silicon Valley - the land of the entrepreneur, the gold rush
and the internet boom - businesses are more open to risk, and the
ensuing rewards.
In the UK, an altogether more reserved and risk-averse
marketplace, there is much more resistance to change. This means
the reference value of success in the first market is essential for
the second to emerge.
Drivers for security remain the same in the US and UK -
compliance and loss/breach incidents - but for security to become
popular there needs to be a more tangible benefit to business.
When a technology is released in
Silicon
Valley, if it becomes popular, a cluster of competitors grows
up around it. Businesses in Silicon Valley are pretty much
exclusively high-tech and keen to try out the new technologies that
might give them the edge over a competitor, usually at a reduced
price.
Once a technology is established as being useful for business,
further investment in the technology is easier to find, and
expansion into a wider US market is the usual first step. Not all
of these businesses make it to this stage, and a privileged few
will be the market leaders.
Once established as a contender in the US, the next target is
the UK market, which leads the pack in Europe. London is a huge
financial centre likely to contain the vital early adopters needed
to get a foothold in a market. Fewer again of the original
businesses make it this far.
Trying to cheat this market progression, by starting in Europe
or the UK before conquering the US, does not make sense, and is
difficult take it from someone who has tried. The technology cannot
build a reputation in an untested market, which is not receptive,
or worse, is resistant to change.
Once sales efforts are started in the UK, results are not
instant. The UK channel exists because of the nature of the US
market, and relies greatly on reputation in the US. The market only
becomes receptive on the back of very visible results.
Key management is just becoming popular in the UK, but I have
watched this grow out of encryption for years, and then only
gradually as a viable business, after a false start when the market
was not ready.
This gradual phasing will continue while Silicon Valley remains
the international bedrock of technology innovation, and although
the gap between US and UK success may narrow, it will always
exist.
● Rob Newby is director of client services for Europe, the
Middle East and Africa at Ingrian Networks
about security zone
Security Zone is a bi-weekly series in Computer Weekly covering
all aspects of IT security management. Each article will be written
by a member of the International Information Systems Security
Certification Consortium (ISC)2.