How Licensing Can Help Your Business Grow

While economies were slowed down by the recent health crisis, the same cannot be said about cyber crime. Threat actors used this period as a proving ground, a time to test and perfect their tools. As the ‘’digital continuum’’ became a reality, cyber attacks diversified and exploited new ways of compromising systems.

By comparison, at the end of 2022, ransomware, phishing, and DDoS attacks were still among the most “popular forms” of cyber-attacks. After a full year of remote work, analysts talk about concepts such as cloud jacking, A.I. fuzzing, IoT attacks, Machine Learning poisoning, fake apps, and smart contract vulnerabilities.

These concepts don’t just confuse enterprise organizations globally. They often confuse security solutions vendors too, especially if detecting them is not their core competency. Not to mention software and hardware companies that use security as part of a larger offer.

The growing number of such threats can mean two things. Either greater vulnerability or more costly research and development to boost your defenses.

New tools for new challenges

So, what happens when elusive threats appear on your radar and put you or your clients in danger? What happens when the same clients demand a new security module or product, even if your core competency is in a different field?

You can try to create your own solution from scratch, adapted to the security issue that needs fixing. This would not just distract you from your main activities, but also end up costing time and money with no guaranteed results. You could also try to outsource parts of your business, gaining efficiency, but losing control.

However, the best option remains licensing technology from an established provider. While this type of a deal is quite common, a lot of companies might be hesitant to license technology from other providers. This is the reason we decided to compile a list of advantages your organization can gain from integrating.

You gain expertise

As you are well aware of, established security products are the result of thousands of hours of work, countless tests, and terabytes of processed intelligence. For example, Bitdefender alone has more than 800 engineers and researchers in its R&D team and has gained more than 100 patents in the past five years!

By using licensed technology, you and your team will gain access to all that expertise and will be able to resell it to your clients. Plus, while your foray into anti-malware, for example, might be new, your licensor’s is definitely not. Neither your potential customers nor your direct competition will be able to challenge your expertise in this area, if it has been endorsed by a category leader!

You gain prestige

Much like expertise, prestige comes bundled with the technology. Companies that are already recognized for their efforts on a certain segment often have awards and certifications that you can use in your own promotional efforts. Furthermore, established products have a good reputation with the target audience, meaning that the acceptance rate is already high.

This is especially true when, instead of adapting to existing customer demands, you’re testing new markets. If your name is associated with Bitdefender, for example, there’s a wider chance of those markets understanding your offer, even if they are less familiar with your previous products.

You gain valuable time

As we’ve said earlier, integrating licensed technology can greatly help with your go-to-market strategy. And that is a huge advantage, since in today’s security landscape, launching new capabilities is often a necessity, not a planned event.

Also, when talking about “time” it is not just the development hours that you should consider. Many times, the biggest delay to launching a software product is the testing phase. By using established technology, you can be sure that your new module or product has already been tested extensively.

You save money and effort

While the money issue may be first on the list, the truth is your biggest economy is measured in work. Building a new feature or module from scratch keeps the most important part of your security team busy: developers, analysts, and testers.

Instead of creating something you have no guarantee will succeed, these valuable employees could work on perfecting existing products and consolidating your position on a segment you are already leading in. Why dissipate your resources when you can focus on your core business and also gain the benefits of innovation?

Aside from these visible advantages, you will gain precious marketing time, as these solutions often come with their own go-to-market strategies. Business risk will also be averted, as proven solutions are easier to adopt and scale.

While some companies worry that using licensed technology could pin them against the licensor, the reality is a bit different. You need technology for a specific market, while your provider has an entirely different audience in mind. It’s a mutually beneficial agreement. So, why not expand your product suite and your revenue streams?

Ask about Bitdefender

With over 180 technology-licensing partners globally, Bitdefender is the provider of choice when it comes to technology licensing. We offer more than 20 modular technology-licensing solutions and Threat Intelligence Feeds and Services, allowing you to bundle, integrate through an SDK (software development kit), relabel, or resell our top-rated technologies.

Extend your product range with premium antimalware solutions or add gateway protection to your existing offer. Add a new IoT module to your suite or empower your existing platforms with top grade threat intelligence. We support countless integration scenarios!