Taiwanese storage solution provider – Synology had their Synology Solution Day 2023 on 29th November at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. At the event, Synology showcased its core data management solutions, including but not limited to, data storage, backup, business productivity, and surveillance. The event had the participation of more than 100 business attendees of all sizes across the country.
During the event, we had the opportunity to discuss with Ms Thachawan, Synology ASEAN Regional Manager, to explore the latest trends and insights related to data management and protection for businesses and delve into Synology’s future development directions.
Tech-Critter: Ms Thachawan, could you provide a brief introduction to Synology and its diverse range of products & services?
Ms Thachawan: Synology is a company founded in the year 2000, dedicated to delivering comprehensive storage solutions designed to address diverse data challenges encountered by businesses. Our core focus revolves around four key innovative solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses of all sizes: Data Management, Data Protection, Productivity Enhancement, and Surveillance.
In addition to our robust NAS solutions, we extend our capabilities to cloud services, further enhancing our comprehensive suite of offerings. Leveraging Synology’s cloud services, we provide businesses with seamless access to scalable and secure cloud storage solutions. This integration enables organizations to not only optimize on-premise data management but also leverage the flexibility and accessibility of cloud-based solutions.
Tech-Critter: Could you tell us more about the purpose behind the Synology Solution Day and insights into Synology’s business in the country?
Ms Thachawan: Synology’s Solution Day in Malaysia is an opportunity to showcase our data management solutions to local businesses. By inviting IT professionals and potential partners to experience firsthand how our solutions disrupt conventional tradeoffs in cost and maintenance, we will be able to establish a more robust local presence and raise awareness of our solutions with the local community.
Besides, we are currently working with several local partners and distributors to provide comprehensive solution services to our local customers. As such, we can meet the demands no matter if it is related to hardware sales or support.
Tech-Critter: Synology originally started with a focus on the prosumer market, why did Synology begin expanding into the business sector, such as placing a greater emphasis on business users during events like Synology Solution Day?
Ms Thachawan: Prosumers are still very important to us because that is how Synology can achieve what we have right now. Just that the growth of the company inevitably introduces us to this enterprise segment. From a revenue contribution perspective, even three years ago, SMB and enterprise products already took up half of Synology’s revenue.
This year up to Q3, the business segment accounts for two-thirds of our revenue. If we consider rack-mounted systems as a dividing line, these systems contributed 43% of Synology’s revenue in the first three quarters of 2023. Thus, despite the market’s general perception of Synology as leading in the desktop or power user segment, we now play a significant role in the mid-range storage market.
On top of that, it also allows us to develop solutions in parallel for both segments, the result is that prosumers and SMBs can enjoy the similar features that we are offering to the enterprise users.
Tech-Critter: How is the focus on the enterprise segment going? Shouldn’t the market be extremely challenging to penetrate considering it has been dominated by the likes of Dell and HP?
Ms Thachawan: Our approach to the enterprise market has been gradually taking shape over the years, focusing on product portfolio, and the most critical aspects for enterprises: security, stability, and management. Sure, it is difficult to compete with big enterprise solution providers but we have to look at a different part of the market that demands the solution at a SMB and small enterprise scale.
Next year, we plan to accelerate our product deployment pace, introducing high-expansion product lines from scale-up to scale-out, faster All-flash storage for enterprise primary storage, and centralized management platforms for large-scale backup deployments, rapidly expanding our enterprise market footprint.
Tech-Critter: Does Synology have any plans for offering a certification program? Such as working with local universities or colleges to provide seminars/trainings.
Ms Thachawan: Excellent question. While we currently do not have any sort of certification program in mind, however, we do believe in the future generation workforce. For example, in Thailand, we have worked with some tertiary education organizations to provide seminars and talks on data protection.
Providing training and early exposure programs to university students will plant a proper data management etiquette in the students’ minds. This will be beneficial to the student’s understanding of the importance of proper data backups and handling. We are looking forward to conducting the same kind of seminars in local universities once we work out the details.
