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Extended version of article in May/June 2007 issue Interview: Ray StantonWe do security too, BT's global head of business continuity, security and governance tells Eleanor Dallaway at Infosecurity Europe
The trend for consolidation in the IT market is eating up more and more small vendors. Surveying the hundreds of stands on the Infosecurity Europe show floor with Ray Stanton invites the question; if the trend for consolidation continues, will we be seeing only four or five vendors exhibiting in five years time? "That may not be far wrong", says Stanton, contemplatively. "We have a duty of care to small companies in the industry, and that's why I invest both time and money into their development. It helps them to develop their products seriously. "There is undoubtedly a great amount of consolidation in the market, and this is not going to go away. We're doing it ourselves - partly because the market and the customers are driving this consolidation. But we have to make sure that we don't de-stimulate the growth of these small niche organisations, because they are the ones who are actually going to come up with all the brain waves". Consolidation often works to the advantage of both the acquiring company and the acquired, with each company complimenting the other, says Stanton. "One of the problems is that these techies have all these brilliant ideas, working as a CTO or a senior engineer, and then think 'how do we now take this higher and get some more investment?' They need someone to run it as a business, rather than a pet engineering project." This formula certainly seems to have worked for BT's purchase of Counterpane, which took place in October 2006. "Bruce Schneier [founder and chief technology officer of BT Counterpane] for example is a brilliant mathematician and a big-head brain," says his colleague Stanton. "He's got a massive brain, but isn't interested in the management or budget. And that's where we come in. You need a combination of both the brain and the business management." Smaller companies often suffer because they don't have an exit strategy, observes Stanton. "In San Francisco, there were about 200 small companies from the valleys that came up to talk to us, asking what we're looking for and vice versa. It's all about finding mutual aspirations. When you make an acquisition you don't just buy technology, you don't just buy brain power. You buy knowledge, intellectual capital and people. Understanding this is so important. And I am continuously shocked that some companies just don't get it." "Since the Counterpane acquisition, BT have seen a 50% increase in sales. Our customer satisfaction has gone up massively, and that's how you know you must be getting something right. We are driving a true business partnership with Counterpane and asking them to try to take the same approach and see us as partners, not competition. It's a really good example of buying a people business." So how did the idea to join the two companies come about? "I had lunch with Paul Stitch [Counterpane's chief executive] and he told me they were looking for a large company to drive their local business. We talked through it all and very quickly realised there was a lot of symmetry," remembers Stanton. "Counterpane had the engineering brain power, but needed an exit plan. BT have the business people to complement that." "When you acquire a company it is all too easy to pull the arms and legs off them. It's all too easy to lose the whole brand and as a result, the staff lose a sense of who they work for. Security is a people's business and losing the essence of the business can be crucial. A really good example of this is what MCI has done with NetSec [now Verizon Business]. They are struggling so badly that MCI are now having to partner with people like Symantec for deals to sort themselves out. Now that's not me swiping at them, it's just an example of how an acquisition can lead to arms and legs being pulled off." Counterpane is retaining its independence in the market by keeping its name and executive team. "The Counterpane exec team sit on my executive team and we work really well together. We have continuity already, which is really important for the individuals. Since we've purchased them, we've lost only one person who had a job offering before we announced the merge. If you're in a people business, you have to invest in your people," says Stanton decisively. Although everything appears to be going swimmingly so far, it is still early days for BT Counterpane. "We're still only six months into the partnership, but all the signs are right. The business is right, we've met and exceeded our first financial target since the merge with Counterpane, and the people have given us the right indication that they're happy. "You want to create a successful business with good market share and all that, but there's another part to this. It can be really boring in business. We spend as much time in our jobs than we do in our own personal lives. So if we're going to be here, let's really enjoy it. It's going to be hard and challenging at times but let's make sure that we get the time to challenge ourselves to grow. I don't want to spend my whole career and then say 'wow that was boring', security is boring enough as it is." Shouting from the rooftops about security Telling the global head of BT security that BT is primarily known for telecommunications and not security is risky territory. After a brief flash of disappointment and disapproval, Stanton admits that this is a fairly common perception. "It's our fault that people think that way. But security has always been a part of BT. What we're now doing is going out there and demonstrating it as part of our core business. We need to demonstrate ourselves as a major player in security." "We've never communicated it, branded it or grabbed mindshare with people before," adds Stanton, who was hired to begin this process, including the consolidation of relationships within BT and creating specific media programmes. "We need to educate people that BT is about security," he says. "We're focusing on the consolidation of our portfolio at the moment. Instead of trying to be everything and do everything for all people, we decided that if we're not the best, we'll leave it to others. We are the best, or certainly considered the best, in the world in our portfolio. Outside of that, we know a man that can. "We're not going to be a security company, but we are a core part of the DNA of BT - it's not an add on, it's fundamental. Security is like 'business as usual' to us. It's an important part of what we do, and people need to know about it. It has always been there and it has always been core, we've just not shouted from the rooftops about it".So there you go. With the increasing popularity of the BT-sponsored IT security journalism awards, and with Stanton on a mission to educate young people about security - starting with his seven year old daughter asking her teacher whether the class computer's anti-virus software was up to date - Stanton hopes to make the perception that BT is just a telecoms company a thing of the past. More from Infosecurity Europe 2007 Extended version of interview with Bruce Schneier Online-only interview with Eugene Kaspersky Cybercrime
unreported due to reputation risks
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