Philipp Weiser – CEO, Anydesk
Anydesk, a remote access solution, has over 100 million downloads, adding 5 million new users every month. With over 2 million active users in India currently, Anydesk sees a huge potential to expand its reach and customer base. Haider Ali Khan had a conversation with Philipp Weiser, CEO, Anydesk.
How has been the journey so far? Do you regret any decisions? The journey has been phenomenal. The response and reception we have received has been very encouraging. We recently announced a milestone: 100 million downloads worldwide. In addition to that impressive number, we are adding over 5 million new users every month, and that number continues to grow, so we are expecting even more users to pick Anydesk as their remote access solution of choice.
“Anydesk is a safe and secure application trusted by millions of individuals as well as by 18,000 companies in 165 countries. It employs banking-level TLS 1.2 technology and RSA 2048 asymmetric key exchange encryption protocols to validate and secure every connection”
Anydesk has over 100 million downloads worldwide. What were the key attributes to your success? Anydesk has always shown a strong commitment to its users as well as its developers. We are incredibly thankful to our fantastic users for their constant feedback and support that has enabled us
to enhance our software and better meet their needs. That led to the 100 million downloads and establishing ourselves as one of the world’s best remote access solutions.
This is also an opportunity to look back at our journey since our inception and how we have been able to put our
users first while paying close attention to the details. By focusing on a high-quality remote access solution that is simple and effective, Anydesk has amassed an impressive number of customers in just a short period of time.
This milestone also means a great responsibility to our customers to provide them with a constantlyimproving solution.
Tell us about the pain points that Anydesk has managed to overcome? The main pain point was that remote access is an exceptionally competitive and dynamic market. It was already that way when the company was founded, so the chips were stacked against us. Thanks to the strength of our product and our customer-centric approach, we were able to provide a superior user experience. That led to viral recommendations and organic growth. Basically, we were able to go from zero to catching up to our biggest competitors in terms of awareness in just five years,
which is massive achievement.
How has been the acceptance of Anydesk in India? India is an important market for us as it is an integral part of our growth story. We already have around 2 million active users each month in India.
Security is a prime concern for an application
like Anydesk. How do you address the threat? Remote access applications are prone to malicious threats and are a target for online attacks, just like any other communication and collaboration tool widely used in the last decade (i.e. email and social media). It is rather unfortunate that remote desktop applications have been used by scammers who convince trusting users to give them access to their device and then defraud them.
Anydesk is a safe and secure application trusted by millions of individuals as well as by 18,000 companies in 165 countries. It employs banking-level TLS
1.2 technology and RSA 2048 asymmetric key exchange encryption protocols to validate and secure every connection.
However, the biggest factor that makes the difference in security is the user. We constantly remind our users that they should only share access codes with people they know. If someone claiming to be from an institution contacts them, they should call that institution directly and check whether the request is legitimate. Moreover, Anydesk’s users have the opportunity to report any fraud-related incidents and sessions to our team so we can permanently block scammers’ access rights to the software.
We have also developed an extra security measure for users during their first incoming session: A message is displayed explaining what users should look for to ensure a fully-secure remote
“Businesses and office workers that use remote working as their approach to a more sustainable and environment-friendly work-life balance are looking into cloudbased IT solutions more and more, including remote access software. This helps reduce costs and reduce the carbon footprint”
session and reminding users not to share personal access codes with anyone they do not know. We also share messages about security on our social media channels and with the press. Scammers can be very creative, so we have taken the responsibility of educating users ourselves, and we regularly communicate with our audience to help them avoid fraud.
Do you have plans for mobiles or smartphones going forward? Anydesk has a mobile application that allows you to connect to your desktop or laptop PC directly from your smartphone. Whether you’re in a different room or different country, you can reach your desktop with just a few clicks and take your work wherever you go. With fast and effective features like collaboration tools and remote maintenance, it’s the next-bestthing to taking your computer with you.
What has been the rate of redressal using Anydesk and how much does it save for a company in terms of time and revenue? Anydesk is incredibly proud of the fact that our product has a 99% customer renewal rate and we believe that fact speaks louder than words as to the quality of our software and our commitment to first-in-class support and customer service. Businesses and office workers that use remote working as their approach to a more sustainable and environment-friendly work-life balance are looking into cloudbased IT solutions more and more, including remote access software. This helps reduce costs and reduce the carbon footprint. Are you open towards localisation to cater more markets? In 2019, Anydesk secured Series A funding from to EQT Ventures and other angel investors. Our company is using the funds to further develop Anydesk and increase our customer numbers while expanding our presence across the globe. ■