Security Minute: Combating Your Customers’ Skills Gap with Care

The enemy of security is complexity. We find ourselves in a very complex environment, as digital technologies are being integrated through every aspect of your customers’ businesses. The problem is, they don’t quite understand it. That’s where solution providers come in.

’We put together a design for our customer, we gather a lot of data and, increasingly, customers are not only worried about maintaining their security posture, but they also want to know, ’What can I learn about my environment?’’ says Jeff Frye, executive vice president at Interface Security Systems.

North American Internet service provider Interface Security Systems has been focused on integration and physical security systems for more than two decades. It straddles the logical and physical when working with customers, who are mainly distributed enterprise in commercial or retail.

’We work with a lot of national chains whose names you would recognize,’ says Frye. ’So, the IT resources are in the headquarters but, in all of those individual stores, they need a high degree of reliability and security to keep the store running safely and securely for their customers and for everybody who works there."

Frye says, even in the enterprise space, there’s a wide continuum of knowledge about security. Most of the companies he works with don’t have an IT member on staff.

’The security landscape is constantly becoming more challenging. There are more threats. There are more devices plugged into the Internet of Things than ever before,’ says Frye.

And that’s the enterprise space. SMBs and midsize enterprises have even fewer resources and expertise when it comes to security. That’s the real opportunity for solution providers to offer this type of expertise.

’Most companies, outside of the Fortune 500, really are not staffed to effectively execute on cybersecurity, especially the midmarket, and that’s where I think managed security services are going to grow,’ says Jonathan Nguyen-Duy, vice president of strategy and analytics at Fortinet.

’We rely on Fortinet to provide not only market leadership in terms of product development, but to be able to communicate that in way that we can pass on to our customers,’ says Frye.

Interface is doing its part to bridge the skills gap by educating its engineers at conferences and through certification programs. This is just one way it’s solidifying its position as a trusted advisor.