Acronis gears up for more action in Asia
Max Tsypliaev, chief executive officer of Acronis, told ZDNet Asia in a recent interview that his company has signed up 50 partners and clinched several customer deals, after officially kicking off its sales and marketing activities in January this year. Acronis Asia, its affiliate sales company in Southeast Asia, was set up in Singapore in December 2004.
Acronis' flagship product Acronis True Image backs up files by sectors, not by the traditional method of copying individual files. In Singapore, its customers include the Health Sciences Authority, several A*Star research institutes, NTUC (National Trade Union Congress) Income, and design school Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
According to Tsypliaev, Acronis' entry into Singapore signals their commitment and focus on Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.
“Southeast Asia for us is an undeveloped market," he said. "We see the potential of the market… We are really serious about it."
Beyond Singapore, Acronis Asia is concentrating on key markets, such as Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong, and has plans to eventually expand into other parts of Southeast Asia, Tsypliaev said.
So far, the company has signed on 50 resellers in Asia, and the number is growing. Tsypliaev said he plans to further expand the partner network and step up product branding efforts.
Acronis also plans to target specific segments, such as the OEM (original equipment market). The firm recently bundled its software with Toshiba Portégé and Libretto notebook computers targeted at the Singapore market.
Available in 10 languages today, Acronis software will be customized in both traditional and simplified Chinese for the China market in July, Tsypliaev revealed.
About 80 percent of the company's worldwide revenue is derived from its products for the corporate market and 20 percent from consumer products. For Asia, Tsypliaev estimates its corporate product revenues to be higher, hovering around 90 percent.
Worldwide, Tsypliaev said, Acronis has recorded a 300-percent year-on-year growth. He claims that the new Asian set-up is profitable, "growing up to almost 100%" each month. Pleased with the "good result" so far, Tsypliaev is looking forward to greater success.
"We have real challenging goals, even for the first year of the market, and we are confident that we can achieve them," Tsypliaev said.