xSP decade: Kaspersky extends its partner network following 10 years of significant growth

For the last 10 years, leading global cybersecurity company Kaspersky has been developing its business to provide value-added services to operators (xSP). This has entailed working with different partners all around the world, including major global and regional operators. Over the past six years, the Kaspersky’s xSP business has grown by 3000% and now equals around 10% of the company’s global B2C sales.

 Today, the online world is not optional but rather an integral part of our lives. According to the latest Digital report by WeAreSocial, the number of people using the internet globally grew by seven percent in 2019 and now totals 4.54 billion users.

With more and more services being available online, providers are becoming more interested in a subscription-based model for providing security. This has led to operators and providers not only selling their products, but also taking care of customers’ protection, creating a strong trust between their business and users, as well as enhance their overall security against any potential data breach. 

 Kaspersky Value Added Services for xSP is one of the most important parts of the company’s business. It includes making partnerships with internet service providers, mobile operators, banks, insurance companies, financial services providers and the games community – or, basically, entities that deliver almost any other type of online service to customers or subscribers. Kaspersky has been working with more than 450 different partners around the world, including major global and regional operators. In the framework of these partnerships, Kaspersky delivers B2C and B2B products on a subscription basis to the operators’ customers, helping them to boost revenues by meeting users’ demands for greater cybersecurity.

 Having launched this business segment 10 years ago, Kaspersky has been transforming its products and technologies into value proposition for each particular project, pioneering new approaches. During the last decade, the company has been demonstrating a solid growth supported by ongoing sales increases in all regions, resulting in a 10% share of the company’s global B2C sales.

Kaspersky’s xSP has grown by 3000% in the past six years alone. Most recently, in addition to “classic” products for protecting PCs and mobile devices more interest has been seen from partners for the company’s Kaspersky Safe Kids solution that helps with protecting children while they are online. And currently, the xSP channel is one of the major contributors to the overall success of this product. 

 “We are really happy and proud that our xSP business is growing. We have observed very positive indicators over the past six years and consider this part of the company as a key strategic driver. During this time, we have managed to build a global channel for promoting cybersecurity solutions through telecommunications companies,” commented Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of the company. “Our partnerships provide operators with advantages, such as high profitability, convenient product customisation tools, a wide range of solutions and collaborative marketing.”

 “We enjoy sharing our expertise and technologies with national level service organisations to deliver best security service available,” adds Alexey Gromyko, Head of Value Added Services for Operators / xSP. “The key to success is the synergy between the team of project experts – our xSP Team, speaking the same language as operators, finding solutions for project needs and regional sales.”

 xSP is just one of the services Kaspersky offers for partners from its wide-ranging portfolio. To meet partners’ demands, Kaspersky is actively expanding its product line for Managed Service Provider (MSPs), reflected in 57% year-on-year growth in this segment in 2019. This model ensures that end customers do not just receive a product from one of our partners, but a ready-made IT service.

This is one of the key trends in the IT market and the MSP model is the most popular in developed markets, including Japan and countries of Western Europe and North America. The company helps partners increase and improve their cybersecurity services by offering key solutions, such as Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response and Kaspersky Sandbox, as well as Kaspersky’s enterprise product line. Earlier this year, the company launched Kaspersky License Management Portal that provides MSPs and resellers with a single platform to order and manage all of their Kaspersky subscriptions in one place.

 “We understand that our partners have strategic ambitions to serve their B2B customers via subscriptions and an MSP model. We believe that contribution of mobile carriers into B2B sales will increase dramatically mostly because of the rising attractiveness of short license subscription models that provide flexibility. There are no doubts that at the end of the day, xSP partners will be involved in the delivery of their own services and addressing Kaspersky managed protection services to end customers,” said Veniamin Levtsov, Vice President of Corporate Business at Kaspersky.

 Starting in 2014, Kaspersky has been organising its annual xSP summit for the company’s partners, providing a unique atmosphere and space for professional networking, as well as open discussions of future products, technologies and prospects for collaborative business. In 2019, the conference welcomed more than 100 delegates from 32 countries around the world, including Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Russia, the USA and Japan. Information on the xSP summit in 2020 will be revealed later this year.