Partner's Success Is Our Success

"Ahsay's products are of crucial and strategic importance for Arebas"

NAME : Mr. Apostolis Hatzigeorgiou
COMPANY : Arebas
YEAR ESTABLISHED : 2006
WEB: www.arebas.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/arebasgr

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Company history and background

Arebas is the first company in Greece that focuses mainly on delivering Outsourcing Services to the Small and Medium Business market. Arebas was founded in April 2006 (formerly known as HACSNET), as a result of a merger/acquisition of three service companies that were delivering Accounting, Networking and IT Security and Backup services respectively. All shareholders are experienced individuals and their analysis and assessment of conditions in the Greek Market convinced them that there was a viable opportunity for a company specializing in delivering Outsourcing Services.

The most successful case you have experienced

During these 11 years we had the privilege to experience in many cases how much the need of an Outsourcing company in Greece was. We serve now over 200 companies and professionals covering several different services areas with over 2.100 workstations. Our specialty is the provision of state-of-the-art online backup services. One of the many successful cases was the absolutely 100% successful restore of a Client's data after a robbery at their offices that took place on November 2007. We immediately reacted by ordering and delivering in less than 48 hours new hardware (seven workstations and one small server) and restored all Clients' data using Arebas (www.arebas.com) - our branded version of Ahsay's All-in-one AhsayOBM. As a result, our Client, who is one of the two largest advertising companies in Greece, gold partner of Leo Barnett, Coca Cola and Marlboro was very satisfied and posted announcements on the country's largest newspaper, called NAFTEMPORIKI. That was a huge reference and advertise for us and since then we have seen a remarkable raise of interest on our Backup Solution.

What is your market position in the online backup industry of your country?

The market for providing this service in Greek Mid-Market Business is fragmented and no company has yet acquired identifiable market share. However, we believe that we are the most recognizable backup solution provider since we have implemented our solution to very important companies in Greece, such as public institutions and many professionals and Greek Mid-Market companies.

When did you start your relationship with Ahsay?

We started our relationship with Ahsay 11 years ago by introducing Arebas to the Greek Market, and we are now Ahsay's largest partner in Greece. We aim to establish much stronger the solution to the market, targeting to approach EVERY single Greek Business and professional.

What is the importance of Ahsay's products in your business mix?

When Arebas was founded, the provision of a Backup Solution was of equal importance to the other solutions we were designing regarding Accounting, Networking etc. Now, we have re-organized our company by creating a separate Line of Business for Arebas having targeted to dominate in Greek SMB. Easy to understand, Ahsay's products are of crucial and strategic importance for Arebas. Therefore our Board of Directors decided to invest almost 500K Euros on Arebas, 19 times more that the initial approved fund 11 years ago!

Comment on Ahsay's products and services

We believe that Ahsay's products and services have three major characteristics: The solution is 100% integrated and complete, comes to a very attractive value for money and the support is very fast and focused to solving the problem and serving the client or the partner. The above were the main reasons when we decided to cooperate with Ahsay rather to some other provider. And if it was to evaluate again, we would again choose Ahsay's products and services.

How do you compare Ahsay's products and services with those of other similar products?

As already stated above, the solution is 100% integrated and complete, comes to a very attractive value for money and the support is very fast and focused to solving the problem and serving the client or the partner. Other solutions in the local and global market have major difficulties in encryption and support.

What is the mix of your customers using online backup services? (e.g.: home, small business, hosting company, etc) What is your sales and marketing tactic to each market?

We have implemented our solution to very important companies in Greece, such us public institutions, large companies and many professionals and Greek Mid-Market companies. So we could state that up to now we have customers of several Business Areas. That is one of our major advantages that we can apply to everyone, our Business Structure allows us to do so. Our sales and marketing strategy includes the regular sponsorship of events and seminars, release of marketing brochures and advertising banners, constant announcement of sales offerings and daily face-to-face meetings with prospect and current customers. The respective links for your reference are:

• Arebas Brochure
• Arebas Promotion Leaflet

Arebas is at this point implementing a very critical business project with two major axes: From a technical point of view, we have already implemented four major Business Continuity sites with clustered Arebas Servers in Europe (please see the servers map). In parallel, we follow a revised marketing strategy which includes the sponsorship of events and seminars, offerings through the Internet, and presentations to major local integrators in large Greece cities and in Cyprus to propose partnership with Arebas. Our target is to create a very strong partner network in order to implement our very pressing project plan to deliver Arebas services everywhere possible in Greece and greater area.

What are the difficulties in marketing your online backup related service in your country? How do you tackle them?

Apart from the very unpredictable economic situation of the Greek Market, the major difficulties we have come up with have to do with various confidentiality issues. The only way to tackle them is through discussion and through signing a contract where we clearly state that we cannot monitor their online communications; neither will edit, nor remove their content without their written permission etc.

How can Ahsay build stronger relationship with our partners, including your company?

First of all, we have to state that working with Ahsay is really a pleasure. Ahsay as a company behaves very clear and very up to the point and that way it avoids misunderstandings and makes business very easy for all. Our board has taken a decision to support Ahsay's business in Greece and Cyprus at a significant financial cost by requesting the privilege of becoming the local Exclusive Distributor. We strongly believe that Ahsay should centralize administration by assigning local Exclusive Distributors - and focus on supporting mainly them directly. These Exclusive Distributors should have the responsibility of organizing and supporting local Partners Networks. That way, the whole Partner Network would become stronger since its 'roots' - even the smallest Partner - will strengthen by enjoying closer local support.

What are the opportunities in the online backup industry?

Online Backup itself as a Service has a very broad coverage capability. It applies to everyone, is worldwide and therefore the opportunities in online backup industry seem endless. We strongly believe that this is the new IT trend for the next decade and our decision to invest in online backup industry proves it.

How can Ahsay and our partners grow faster together in the near future?

As already stated, Arebas believes that the way Ahsay is investing on the relationship and cooperation with its partners is very professional and towards this direction we should all together fight for the common good. However, more sales material (like CD boxes, branded User Guides) and centralized localization are a couple of actions that could help more.

Any other suggestions to Ahsay?

As declared before, the basic strategic suggestion is the assignment of Exclusive Distributors around the globe.