SecureSynergy: Taking on MNCs

Formed at a time when security concerns were at a peak, SecureSynergy is making rapid inroads in the security space with a focused consulting and product strategy, says SUSHMA NAIK

ANIL MENON says that in the corporate world, security investments today account for 3.5-4 percent of the total IT budget, but this is expected to grow to over 7-8 percent in the next 2-3 years.

A BOOMING security market attracted three men from diverse backgrounds—an ex-navy information security consultant, Felix Mohan; an ex-army commanding officer, J P Santhanam; and an information technology consultant, Anil Menon. Their vision was to create a unique value proposition that would address corporate security concerns by offering consulting and implementation services for popular technology products.

Value-adds to go

From the start, the company’s strategy has been to focus on adding value to technology products with value-added services rather than just implementation services. Says Anil Menon, senior vice president, SecureSynergy, “We realised early that analysis and proactive services can only be provided by a services stack player and not by a technology vendor.” The strategy of bundling value-added services with every product has paid off and can be seen from the growth in the company’s clientele. From two in 2002, the company has close to 250 Indian clients and 50 global clients today. To handle this jump in business, its manpower has grown from five to fifty.

NOC from the start

SecureSynergy invested in setting up a network operation centre as this was crucial for the company to be taken seriously as a global player. On the heels of this, it created a security research lab called Centre for Information Security and Assu-rance Technology (CISAT). The company says that this is the only lab in India that conducts security simulations. Today this lab is used to simulate attacks on a company’s network, letting clients visualise vulnerabilities in the same. The lab helps companies choose network protection technologies.

Looking at the growing need for information technology professionals, the company started a division which focused on providing training in two modes. An organisation can go to SecureSynergy to get training in a particular aspect of security. The company also provides training for understanding and implementing security policies. Today it has 40,000-50,000 pages of vendor-neutral security content. Menon says that sectors like PSUs and defence have taken IT security training seriously.

Converting experience into products

While SecureSynergy was initially content to focus on the booming security consulting business, the company saw a parallel opportunity in the area of tools for automating patch management. After a few months of intensive research, the company released a tool called PatchEasy. This tool streamlines the process of updating networked PCs with security patches, service packs and bug fixes to ensure that all clients, servers and applications are running the most current and up to date software, thereby helping prevent security breaches. In India, this product was a first in a market dominated by MNC players. The product has been a resounding success, with about 25 Indian clients and 30 international clients deploying it, all in a span of about four months.

Riding the wave

The boom in the BPO sector saw SecureSynergy focusing on this opportunity to provide security certifications to these emerging players. With the lack of data protection laws in the country, many Indian BPO companies were looking for security certifications (similar to SEI CMM Level certifications for software service companies). The company now provides services for certifying and validating Indian BPO organisations.

With investments in security still on an upward curve, SecureSynergy is addressing a growing market. “Corporate budgets for security range from 3.5-4 percent, and are slated to be over 7-8 percent in the next 2-3 years,” says Menon.

Though SecureSynergy is only two-and-half years old, the company feels that this time span has seen dramatic changes in the understanding of security among corporates. It also understands the importance of channel partners in pushing its products. The company currently has over 50 channel partners spread across twelve countries (India, Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East). In the future, the company plans to target countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

sushma@expresscomputeronline.com