Denmark-based security software company BullGuard has arrived in Canada through a deal with Quebec-based EIGRS Distribution, bringing with it a high-margin channel program than includes ongoing recurring revenues.

The company launched in North America earlier this year, offering its flagship Internet security product, which includes online backup space for a SOHO disaster recovery option, in the U.S. And now with the distribution deal, BullGuard is eyeing opportunity in a nation where the business profile closely matches is own small business focus.

The company focuses exclusively on the consumer and the small S in SMB, 10 seats or less. And accordingly, its channel plans involve the system builders, retailers and small solution providers that serve that space.

But there’s one differentiator in its approach that should go over well with its Canadian partners, according to Farokh Karani Lam, director of sales for BullGuard Americas – unlike some of its SMB-focused competitors, the company is steering clear of big box retailers.

“Channel partners are in this to make money, so when they see vendors going and taking business away form them and lowing the price to the product they’re selling, that doesn’t make them very happy,” Lam said.

Its other big profitability differentiator is that it offers resellers recurring revenue dollars on product renewals, even when the customer renews directly online. As a result, Lam said that partners can “end up making 200 to 400 per cent more profit than with any other product out there” when they sell BullGuard instead of a competitive product.

Lam said this particularly goes well with small resellers who focus on PC repairs, a market where BullGuard is focused. By offering BullGuard as opposed to a competitor, Lam said those resellers stand to tack another $50 of profitability to every PC they repair and upgrade, a substantial margin upgrade for those in the low-margin hardware game. “Partners don’t care about  topline – they care about bottom line,” he said.

Other security vendors offer such ongoing renewal revenue for corporate products, but Lam said that BullGuard is unique in offering such additional revenues on small business product.

Products in the BullGuard family include BullGuard Internet Security 10, BullGuard Backup 10, and BullGuard AntiVirus 10. The full suite has been recently updated to include a product called Inspector that aims to help small businesses keep an eye on which of its software offerings require patching. Lam said the company is “continuously” adding new features like that to its suite, and intends to have a mobile security product with “complete coverage for Android and BlackBerry” by the end of the year.

Lam has worked with EIGRS in previous roles with other security vendors, and praised the distie for its knowledge of the security market and its bilingual support – which matches BullGuard’s own multilingual support options. Because of its existing heritage in Europe and its support for a variety of languages – English and French included – Lam said the company was able to get up and running in Canada much faster than the average vendor is able to spin up its business in this country.

“This is their niche, they know this well and their resellers know it well,” he said. “They’re the right partner as we’re looking to enter Canada.”

If the company should expand its channel in Canada beyond EIGRS, Lam said the company would look for alternatives that “don’t cannibalize” its opportunities with EIGRS.

“We’re the only product in their portfolio that has online backup, and that’s a big key for us – utilizing the cloud to present another layer of security, to keep your documents safe.”

Lam said the company is growing quickly in the channel, but is determined not to oversaturate the market or dilute its small business message. “Canada, from my experience, is made up of hundreds and thousands of smaller resellers, and we see the channel growing quite rapidly as we spread our reach,” he said.