Trend Micro doubles down in Indonesia

By Masyitha Baziad June 2, 2016

Indonesia sales not a big contributor yet, but potential is there
To focus on network and hybrid cloud defences for enterprises

TOKYO-based security software company Trend Micro Inc recently expanded its office in Jakarta, to support what it said was Indonesia’s growing business outlook.

The company has expanded from seven staff last year to 15 now, mostly for its technical support team.

“If you look at most of the security companies that are in Indonesia, we are probably the biggest in terms of the number of people we have,” said Trend Micro managing director and vice president of Asia Pacific, Dhanya Thakkar.

“It reflects the tremendous growth and potential here in Indonesia in terms of security needs,” he told the media at the inauguration of the new office in Jakarta, on May 25.

Dhanya did not disclose any sales target for Indonesia in view of its expanded operations.

“As we invest more in the market, as we have more people, and as we solve customers’ pain points, we believe that the money will follow – the market will reward us with revenue,” he told Digital News Asia (DNA).

He also claimed that in Asia Pacific, Trend Micro has reported three-digit growth, around 130% to 140%, in new strategic revenue.

“Even globally, we reported two-digit growth in new strategic revenue,” he added.

In its Q1 2016 financial statement, Trend Micro said it posted ¥29.9 billion (US$268.6 million) in net sales, with 44.7% or ¥13.3 billion (US$120.1 million) coming from its home market of Japan. The rest of Asia Pacific contributed almost 10%, or ¥3 billion (US$27million), of net sales.

The Q1 2016 report also shows that its main Asia Pacific markets were Australia, China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.

Indonesia was not listed as a major market, but Dhanya argued that it would be a “new, strategic revenue maker.”

Network and hybrid cloud defences

Most of Trend Micro’s new strategic revenue came from its network and hybrid cloud security solutions. It claims to be a market leader in the global hybrid cloud security segment, with a 34% market share.

Dhanya (pic above) said Trend Micro is also in a “very good position” when it comes to network defence, especially with its US$300-million acquisition last October of TippingPoint, formerly a division of Hewlett-Packard that specialises in next-generation intrusion prevention systems and related network security solutions.

“These are the two segments [network and hybrid cloud defence] that Trend Micro wants to explore and expand in Indonesia, and in Asia Pacific,” he added.

According to Dhanya, around 60% of Trend Micro’s revenue comes from its user protection segment, however the growth there is not as high as in the network and hybrid cloud segments.

“There are persistent threats in these two sectors, and many big banks in Indonesia are already using Trend Micro solutions, or asking for information about such solutions,” he said, without revealing the identity of said banks.

The user or consumer protection market in Indonesia, which includes competitors such as Kaspersky Lab and Symantec Inc, is growing at around 8% to 10% annually.

Dhanya claimed that Trend Micro’s consumer segment is still growing at a double-digit rate, but will be on a downtrend.

“It is a big market because there are just so many end-users; however, PC sales keep going down and that puts this segment under pressure,” he said.

In terms of verticals, Trend Micro’s main market in Indonesia is the highly-regulated financial services industry where cybersecurity is mandated.

However, it also has customers in the telecommunications and government sectors, the latter especially with state-owned enterprises.

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