Synology helping the Indian SME segment to propel biz growth with its Secure and Scalable Data Management Solutions

With huge amount of data being generated every second, Data Management is becoming a real challenge for the businesses. Be it data solutions for storage and backup, file collaboration, or video surveillance – a centralized platform for data management is the answer. Synology is bringing new possibilities to the table for data management solutions that will simplify IT administration while driving digital transformation for the enterprises, SMBs and SOHO users in India. We at SmartStateIndia had the opportunity to have an exclusive interaction with Mr. Michael Chang, Regional Sales Head – Asia Pacific, Synology Inc., who shared his insights on the business strategies for India and how Synology solutions will transform the way data is stored and managed setting the bar even higher for reliability, security, and scalability.

Here’s an excerpt from the interaction:

Please share with us about Synology’s market position and opportunities in India?

We started here early in India around the year 2009, and then starting the year 2019 we’re seeing year-on-year growth of 2X in terms of volume and revenue. Now, for the year 2023 onward, we’re aiming to have a 3X growth overall year-on-year. We see key opportunities in the Indian market in four segments. First is the manufacturing industry. Second is the professional services, which includes biotech and etc. Third would be the Creative Media, such as post production affects in Bollywood. And the fourth is the most untapped market, which is the SMB/SME segment. We are seeing key opportunities in these four segments in the Indian region.

What are the latest products you are offering in the Indian market?

For the year 2023, we’re aiming to launch our own scale out NAS solution for the Indian market. This will enable businesses to be more resilient, highly scalable, secure, and fault-tolerant solution. Aside from that, around Q1 2023, we are going to launch the HD 6500, which is our petabyte NAS storage. We have seen some demand in the media industry where the post production companies need a highly scalable storage, to be able to edit their data in terms of video and photo, as well as to have an archiving solution for their needs.

A key aspect is security and backup feature that most businesses are opting for along with provision for scalability for future demand. How is Synology incorporating this in its solutions?

I would like to highlight that, for example, our desktop models and the tower type models are scalable as well. For example, if you bought a four bay NAS, let’s say our standard DS 920. So it’s a four bay NAS, which is expandable to nine bays by just adding an expansion unit, and you’ll be able to scale up your storage when there is requirement. Suppose if you have an on-premise NAS server, you want a secure offsite backup, you can backup up to the cloud. Fow which our C2 NAS will be a feasible solution for the SMBs and SMEs, as it allows the consumers to backup their data from the on-premises to the cloud.

For the enterprise category, what are the latest technologies you’re working on given the cyber threat landscape?

We’re going to launch the WORM, the Write Once Read Many function. So basically, it’s an immutable function, which will enable companies to be protected from ransomwares, as we know now ransomware attacks are rampant in the industry. Synology is working hard to provide solutions to our clients to make sure that their data remains safe and secure. Moving forward, the next step is the worm function – Write Once Read Many, which will be launched in 2023.

What is Synology’s market share in the storage category?

I would say around 70 to 80% is SMB/SME market share of Synology. We are the leading brand in the mid-market segment. However, we also see some opportunities in the enterprise sector, the remaining 20%, where we are also venturing into developing more technologies as well as providing better products for the enterprise segment.

Tell us about your go-to market strategy and plans to support the ecosystem of distributors and channel partners to keeping them abreast with latest technologies from Synology?

We recently did our solutions day in Mumbai and Delhi. And moving forward, we’re going to have more investments and engagements in India for the year 2023. We’re very excited to be able to visit India more often now, and you’ll see us quarterly here in India. So, we will be conducting more road shows, seminars, and trainings. Aside from the tier-one cities, we will also be targeting in the tier-two or tier-three cities of India. We see here is the unmet market in India, and most of the vendors focus on tier-one or tier-two cities. Whereas in Synology, we see that aside from the enterprise sector, the unmet market, i.e., the SMBs, SMEs, and the startups, who also need some data solutions for their businesses. So, we see opportunities in this segment. Hence, we would like to target tier-two, tier-three, moving forward.

India is a budget or a price-sensitive market. How is Synology working on this aspect to be more consumer friendly and affordable?

I’d like to mention that in Synology, aside from the tower type models, we have various types of models ranging from SMB, SME, home users, and also the enterprise. We have rack-mount for the enterprise sector, while we have the desktop models for home users, SMB and SMEs. Aside from that, we’re also strong in our software solutions. As we have a whole ecosystem inside the Synology NAS, where in the user just needs to buy the appliance and then they can leverage our feature-rich software solutions free of charge. Imagine that if you buy Synology NAS, let’s say a two-bay DS 220 Plus, you can leverage our free backup solution to backup your PCs, your cell phone, your servers or even virtual machines, unlimited free of charge. Let’s say you have Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, so you can backup your Microsoft Teams or your Google emails to the NAS, that too free-of-charge. We don’t charge you. So price-point wise, we’re highly competitive. All you need is our NAS of any kind, and then a business of any scale can leverage Synology software solution. So that’s the beauty of our solutions.

How do you see the growth roadmap in India for Synology in 2023?

Business wise in the APAC region, we’ve seen a lot of traction and momentum here in India. Hence, in Synology, we like to aggressively grow in the Indian market, educate them about our solutions and how Synology can help the businesses here. So moving forward, Synology will have more investments in the Indian market, providing solutions to many kinds of businesses, ranging from the home users, SMBs and SMEs to the enterprises. So, at Synology, we would like to play a key role in helping the Indian businesses succeed in their growth journeys.