India is a hyper growth market and we expect to continue the momentum: Veeam’s Beni Sia

India is a hyper growth market for U.S-headquartered Veeam Software, a backup, disaster recovery, and data management provider and the company is growing over 2.5 times faster in India compared to the global data protection market, according to Beni Sia, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, Veeam Software.

Speaking about the significant growth Veeam is experiencing in India, Sia told TechCircle that India has been the highest growth region among his six sub-regions and witnessed significant growth last year. He also mentioned that this growth momentum will continue in the coming months with the support of its partners and customers.

Since its establishment in 2006, Veeam has become a major player in the IT industry, serving over 450,000 customers worldwide. Its customer base includes renowned brands like Coca-Cola, BMW, and government agencies such as the US Department of Defense.

The company's acquisition by the private equity business Insight Partners for $5 billion in March 2020 has enabled them to expand into new markets and sustain its growth trajectory. Built by its VMware virtual machine protection features, it claims to have achieved a $1 billion annual run rate offering data ownership, control, and protection in the hybrid cloud environment. 

Veeam has already been operating in India for over a decade. Sandeep Bhambure, Vice President and Managing Director, Veeam Software India and SAARC, informed that in recent years, Veeam has acquired esteemed clients across industry segments, such as Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra Group, Granules India, Parul University, and Future Generali. “We focus on protecting critical workloads and assisting clients with cloud migrations, with plans to onboard hundreds of more customers in the future,” he said.

Looking ahead, the now Anand Eswaran-led company is implementing changes in its go-to-market strategy, including investing in technologies to provide salespeople with more accurate leads. Sia added that the company is allocating significant resources to research and development to accelerate innovation.

In October 2023, Veeam introduced its first-party Backup-as-a-Service product called Cirrus by Veeam, which offers data protection for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure. The acquisition of Cirrus and its team was made from the Australian company CT4. Cirrus is a cloud-native application built in Microsoft Azure that serves as a multi-tenant, multi-tier frontend for Veeam Backup 365.

Sia stated that the acquisition of Cirrus has enhanced Veeam's Backup-as-a-Service capabilities for Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, providing protection for nearly 18 million Microsoft 365 users worldwide, including in the India market. 

As a 100% channel company, Veeam has over 700 partners in India. This ecosystem includes partners from the reseller alliance ecosystem, such as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE), Cisco Systems, Lenovo, as well as cloud service providers, GSIs, and ISVs. Bhambure said that the company’s channel program is going to be even more rewarding in the coming months, as the company is investing significantly on specialised partners in cloud backup and security.

According to Veeam’s latest Data Protection Trends Report 2024 published in January, cyber-attacks continue to be the leading cause of business outages, a trend that has persisted for four consecutive years. Sia noted, while CIO/CISOs of not just big firms, but every enterprise continues to be challenged by ransomware menace, it is also important to note that other types of outages, including infrastructure/networking, storage hardware, application software, public cloud resources, and server hardware, are also becoming increasingly prevalent. “This highlights the urgent need for organizations to adopt modernized backup strategies,” he said.

Furthermore, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill 2023, which was passed in August last year, aims to safeguard the privacy and security of personal data in the digital realm. As data protection is of utmost importance for every company today, it presents a significant opportunity for us to assist customers in safeguarding their data, according to Bhambure.

"We are raising awareness about maintaining global competitiveness while adhering to regulations. We anticipate sustained growth in the next 2-3 years and will allocate additional resources for hiring and partnerships to support this growth trajectory,” he said.