Avant Services: How to become a Safetica Platinum Partner in less than a year

Why did you decide to partner with Safetica?

We founded Avant two years ago. We started to cooperate with Esy (our distributor) almost immediately. Alberto (Esy) mentioned that they had signed a contract with a company with a very promising tool called Safetica. A few weeks later, the Covid Pandemic started, and many companies started to adopt the Home Office approach, which forced many of them to manage user behavior and prevent possible data loss. During this transition, we understood the real potential of Safetica DLP and therefore we started to work in an organized and systematic way to present the solution in Brazil and adhere to the needs of our customers.

Why and how did you decide to invest and become Platinum partner so fast?

Due to the Pandemic many companies started to look for a solution such as Safetica. At the same time, the LGPD in Brazil came into force, therefore the market potential became huge!

Thus, it was necessary to study Safetica's tool, invest in people, processes, and training so we were prepared to demonstrate, sell and serve our customers with quality.

I would like to highlight that the alignment of the Technical Team with the Commercial Team is very important. What helped us a lot during this period was Safetica’s roadmap/materials and the support of our distributor, Esy.

When did you see a return on your investment in Safetica? Did you have to hire somebody?

ROI approximately in 6 months. It was very fast! At the beginning, it was not necessary to employ anybody new, however, I think it is important to have a dedicated person on the team; it will make things easier.

Were there any obstacles with achieving Platinum partner level?

I believe that the biggest challenge we faced was the timing. When Safetica entered the Brazilian market, it was full of uncertainties. In addition to that, our company structure has been offering different product profiles (not DLP), which also required us to adapt.

Things started to move more smoothly once we understood the profile of the ideal customer, one who is interested in investing in tools that increase income, save money, or reduce risk. Furthermore, since Safetica covers more than one of these reasons, this made the purchase potential much greater, thus facilitating the development of the market and the product in Brazil.

How much time did it take Avant to get the Tier 1 & Tier 2 certifications required for the Platinum partner level? 

Tier 1 was fast, as it is mandatory for all technicians at Avant. After understanding and using the solution, we obtained the Tier 2 certificate. The Tier 1 certificate took us approximately ten days and Tier 2 fifteen days.

What surprised you the most about your cooperation with Safetica?

We have had two big surprises with Safetica. First, when it comes to the concept of DLP, the theory is quite frightening and complex. But when you start working with the tool and understand its concepts, you can see how simple and intuitive it is.

The second surprise was the ease of communication with the entire Safetica team, as well as being able to give feedback and suggest possible improvements. I can safely say that almost no vendor is this receptive. Fast communication, simplicity, and objectivity!

What advice would you give to other partners when it comes to the Safetica partner program?

It is not good to give advice to the competitors, right? I am joking! I think it is important to use and study the documentation from Safetica, to become familiar with the solution, and to have strong teams, both commercial and technical. Furthermore, it is important to have a good relationship with a local distributor, since he is the main connection between a vendor and a reseller.