“We are developing most secure mobile infra for enterprises adopting BYOD” : Narendra Nayak, MD, BlackBerry

BlackBerry’s is focused on enabling governments and businesses of all sizes to secure and manage their mobile deployments, regardless of what devices they are using

BlackBerry named Narendra Nayak as managing director its India operations in october last year. In an interview with Rashi Varshney of EC, Nayak told that in his stint at the Canadian enterprise,  he will be playing a pivotal role in transforming BlackBerry’s business into the leading enterprise software provider focused on enabling governments and businesses of all sizes to secure and manage their mobile deployments, regardless of what devices they are using.

Edited Excerpts

What are BlackBerry’s key focus areas in the Indian market? What are the recent updates?

Smartphones put us on the map, but today, BlackBerry has pivoted to software and security services and now, is a leading multi-OS enterprise mobility software company. To name a few areas, our business today spans enterprise mobility management, encrypted voice and file-sharing, crisis communications, identity management, split billing for BYOD policies, as well as secure smartphones.

What does this cross-platform strategy mean for customers? We help governments and businesses of all sizes to secure and manage their mobile deployments, regardless of what devices they are using. In India, we are focused on creating wider awareness of how we help our customers today, and of course, working with our partners to build our business in this market in both software and hardware.

We have had an exciting year so far with multiple new announcements and updates. Globally, we have just announced robust software growth at our most recent financials in June, refreshed our global partner program and we recently shared seven major new updates to the BlackBerry enterprise portfolio. Several weeks ago, BlackBerry was named a Leader in Gartner’s Enterprise Mobility Management Magic Quadrant and in April, Watchdox was named a leader in Forrester’s 2016 Enterprise File Sync and Share report. Our momentum is strong.

In India, we announced our partnership with HCL Infosystems in June to expand channel for enterprise software products and services across India. The partnership will enhance the availability of BlackBerry’s enterprise mobility portfolio to business customers by leveraging HCL Infosystems’ extensive pan-India network of deeply specialized enterprise distribution partners.

At the beginning of this year, we launched our first Android smartphone PRIV, built on BlackBerry’s secure hardware platform that lets you easily monitor and take action to improve your privacy. We have shared that we plan to launch two further mid-range Android phones later this year.

What is BlackBerry’s Enterprise go to market strategy for the India market?

We are focused on building the right ecosystem of partners and people to bring more value from our enterprise software and services to our customers. We have witnessed an encouraging response to the Blackberry EMM platform because of its multi-OS support from a single console with iOS, Android (including Android for Work and Samsung KNOX), BlackBerry, Windows and Mac OSX – and for any ownership model (BYOD, COPE, COBO), even in mixed environments. We are looking at robust growth from our enterprise software business in the coming year.

We have redefined our go to market strategy for India and we are rebuilding our distribution channel geared towards enterprise business. We are rebuilding our team in India, bringing in more people with software knowledge and software support sales skills.

What does acquisition of AtHoc and Watchdox, bring on BlackBerry’s table?

With Watchdox and AtHoc, BlackBerry is aiming to strengthen its foothold in the secure messaging and content management areas even further. BlackBerry’s best-in-class mobile security combined with solutions from AtHoc and WatchDox provide users with unmatched control over enterprise software and mobile solutions.

No matter how large your organization, there’s a lot of sensitive information passing through your email gateway. Financial data. Product roadmaps. Upcoming partnerships and acquisitions. Protected client and customer information. WatchDox’s offers value-added service that complements BlackBerry’s Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) portfolio. It will extend BlackBerry’s commitment to help organizations securely connect employees with each other and with corporate information across all mobile and desktop platforms.

We continue to innovate with this leading solutions, having just launched WatchDox by BlackBerry Email Protector. Recently made available as a standalone solution, it allows administrators complete control over how recipients can use attachments sent through their organization’s email portal – no matter who receives them.

With AtHoc, BlackBerry is advancing our mission to provide secure communication solutions for the connected world. It integrates with our enterprise portfolio of cross-platform solutions and trusted global network to enable new capabilities for safety, security and mission-critical business communications.
Recently, we announced new updates to AtHoc including real-time alert rules, automated staff mustering, management alerting and severity notifications. As we have done with Watchdox for BlackBerry, we have further integrated AtHoc into our business, adding the mobile app for the AtHoc Crisis Communications platform into Good Dynamics.

While AtHoc is purpose-built for crisis communications, it is also used to manage business operations. lt plays a valuable role in secure message control for a wide variety of other applications, such as communications management, messaging tracking and security, and performance documentation. A cyber-attack against an enterprise represents another non-traditional use for AtHoc, in which specific personnel must be contacted and organized both securely and on short notice.Take a look at how Macquarie University in Australia keeps students safe, Washington State’s Emergency Response procedures and how Mexico City keeps citizens safe during earthquakes.

How do you plan to reform BlackBerry during your tenure at the company?

BlackBerry is focused on growing its enterprise customer base here in India and around the world, and the company is focused on several critical components.
1) Allow customers the choice of what operating system to use by developing cross-platform mobile solutions that support Android, BB10, iOS or Windows
2) Provide the most secure mobile infrastructure – especially as companies are broadly adopting BYOD strategies that create more complex security challenges.
3) Capitalize on the pedigree and trust BlackBerry has built with strategic partners and customers, including the leading enterprise and governments around the world.
India is a key market for BlackBerry’s enterprise software business and delivering the best possible customer experience is key to our strategy.