January 2015; it has been a year since you arrived at Panda, how has the company changed in the past months?

The company did go through three mayor changes during this time:

The first one, and probably the most important, is return to growth. Results we are achieving now show that the market is responding positively to our approach. This is important because restores our confidence, both towards the market, and also, to all our employees and the work every one of them does.

The second change and, the most visible, is our new corporate image. Mixes the best of the “Panda culture” with the targeted change and reinforcement of the company’s values: people-centric, innovative and non-conformist.

The third is, our investment on the future, the advance security solutions led by Adaptive Defense. Thanks to these we are again innovation leaders in the security industry.

Which are the main strategic objectives set for this year? And for the coming ones?

We have a strategic plan for 2015-2019 based on three pillars:

1. Technology: with three key opportunities over the next years:

• Mobility: solutions must be multi device and ensure protection and global coverage.
• Internet of Things: there are more and more connected devices and therefore more protection and security is needed.
• Advanced Threats: only solved with massive data analysis in the cloud.

2. International expansion: our clients are global and mobile and we have to continue being so. We will addressed this in three steps:

• Complete geographies where we are already strong: Western Europe, Latin America and USA. During 2015 we opened new country partners in those countries in Latin America that had no coverage before, like Panama.
• Open new markets in emerging countries and economies where we don’t have a strong presence. For example, India or China.
• Complete the acquisition and conversion of subsidiaries in countries which become important to our business, such as Italy and Denmark, both in the process of incorporation.

3. Growth,  the necessary proof that we are doing a good job, also with three key areas:

• Maintain the organic growth of the current product portfolio.
• Continue with the improvement and growth ratio in our Web offer.
• Prove that Adaptive Defense gives the expected results.

The company’s profits are distributed almost 50% between retail products and corporative products, will this trend continue?

Device protection nurtures of the same base technology for both markets. We will keep these two lines although it is true that in retail, the margins are narrowing and in corporate, especially with Advanced Threats protection, clients’ investments are increasing significantly.

Three reasons why Panda is a global company.

• Because 85% of our business is outside Spain.
• Because 50% of our employees are outside Spain (HQ).
• Because cyber-attacks are global and so is their defense.

Which are the most important threats in cyber security users might face? And companies?

For the user the most serious is still the theft of personal information and the use of that data for criminal purposes.

In the corporate field, we cannot forget that the jewel in the companies crown are also their information and applications. However, they have also other requirements set by the industry for which they have to comply with general and industry specific regulation.

How do you see the market? Does it tend to free products?

The power has clearly shifted from the organizations to the individual. The best way of convincing him of the value of your solutions is for him to try them first and then, if he likes them and they add value, he will pay for them.

In the corporate market there have always been pilots and free trials. Now is the individual who has the possibility of trying the service before purchasing it.

I like this model because it forces us to improve and think continuously about the user experience.

At Panda we talk about the ‘Internet of Things’, ‘Big Data’, ‘Cloud Computing’, mobility. What role plays security here?

Panda has been working with Cloud and Big Data since 2007, a fortress and at the same time a necessity because the number of attacks multiplies every year. To analyze 225.000 malware samples that arrive daily to our servers we need to benefit from this technology. In addition, the Cloud allows us to give almost instantly and in real time solution to these security problems.

After visiting subsidiaries and country partners, how do you think Panda is perceived thorough the world?

As a company with great technology, close to the user, which is going through a transformation moment.

Something you are proud of?

I am very proud of two things: the decision I made 15 months ago, when I decided to join this project, and the human team I have come across.

And finally, why Panda?

Because we are reinventing ourselves and at the same time we are reinventing the industry, because we develop innovative and of the future technology with a clear vocation of service, because is a leader company and it has a fantastic human team.

The post Interview with Diego Navarrete, Panda Security CEO appeared first on MediaCenter Panda Security.