Sage Conversations

A Great Conversation with Francis D'Addario 

The security market is going through a value transformation. The Security Executive Council (SEC) is at the forefront of that transformation. They have taken the best practices and collective knowledge of thought leaders throughout the industry and partnered with the #1 Undergraduate International Business Degree program: The Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina to produce a course curriculum and program called: The Next Generation Security Leader (NGSL).

The Hidden Lessons from ISC West – the Security conference

I have found the best way to stifle innovation is to sell the concept that past success ensures future success or that bigger is better.

As well, I have also found that most forms of innovation create change in the behaviors of people, who live within a process using technology or tools. Thus innovation can cause people to react quickly to protect their ‘babies’; the job they know, the process they live in, the partners they trust, the technology they use, the company’s business model or way of doing business. People will move to protect their babies at all costs, even the life of their business or career.

So what are the babies under siege today?

Let’s start with the beginning of the ISC West show: the Education series.

The Holistic Security Network: A Future Envisioned - What will the future of physical security look like?

This was a panel discussion backed by facts gathered from IHS; an industry analyst. I thought this was a lively discussion on defining the terms that the industry so often uses and connecting them to the practices that must change to advance the value of security.

Benjamin Butchko, who acts as an advisor to Security Executives, was adamant that the technology vendors must provide their solutions within the context of an information architecture. Proprietary formats are creating “a duplication of data and devices” that costs the end user. Worse, he said, the so-called ‘integration’ that is offered today creates a series of communications between multiple standalone sources that may actually provide the wrong information, creating more risk as well as cost.  PSIM is not the answer. It forces applications to be subsumed under one user interface setting the end user up for upgrade nightmares and redundant databases.

A CSO's Resilient Strategy and Platform

Mike Howard, Chief Security Officer of Microsoft Global Security, was able to articulate the value of a resilience platform at his keynote at The Great Conversation. Later he sat down with a Cygnus Security Media Group Publisher to answer a few questions.

In this excellent interview with Steve Lasky, he speaks to the value of a technology platform and how it can provision security leaders with the information and efficiencies needed to release them to focus on the organization's needs, the leadership development of people, and the long term strategies that build true value.

He also recognizes that the term ‘interoperability’ applies to more than technology. It also describes the opportunity among the security ecosystem of technology vendors, integrators and consultants to collaborate. However, collaboration only can occur through a relationship of knowledge and trust. Howard urges this security ecosystem to understand their client’s business first, before engaging in a conversation about their products or services. For Microsoft, that means understanding that they are not only a software company, but a device and services company as well. If Howard is focused on how his security organization adds value to the mission of Microsoft, then the ecosystem should have that focus as well.

Howard seeks to collaborate within his own organization. He seeks relationships that can help him understand Microsoft’s business more clearly. As well, he looks outside headquarters in Redmond, seeking international relationships inside and outside Microsoft that extend his perspective. He takes seriously the term ‘global’ in Microsoft Global Security.

Finally, this interview once again anchors Howard’s philosophy of leadership. He offers a great story he learned years ago about the true measure of a leader: their ability to put their people first. This ‘selfless’ perspective does not ignore the need to measure competency and the results needed to perform. More so, the investment in identifying, growing, managing and measuring the next generation of leaders, will create the opportunity for sustainable value creation.

Authored by Bruce Davidson, Director
Office of SAFETY Act Implementation
Department of Homeland Security

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the private sector expressed considerable reluctance to deploy security technologies and services in civilian settings due to the enormous potential liability risks in the event those deployments were impacted by an act of terrorism.  As the private sector owns and operates most of the Nation's critical infrastructure and key resources, this reluctance created the potential for under-investment in necessary security technologies and capabilities.  The Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act was enacted by Congress in 2002 to assist in mitigating these risks, and to encourage the widespread deployment of effective anti-terrorism technologies that would save lives. 

Dave Komendat, the Chief Security Officer of The Boeing Company, spoke at the Next Generation Security Leader Program and The Great Conversation in early March. His core message: You must be able to articulate the story of your value.

To do this, Komendat partnered with the Security Executive Council to drive a change of culture within his own organization.

In the following video, you will see a leader truly transparent about his journey to articulate the value of his people, processes and tools. The journey he believes is not only necessary but a duty to the organization and its people.

As well, you will hear about some surprising but clear metrics that underlined the value the company has to its own employees: A matter of life and death.

The Great Conversation in Security premise was built on the intellectual history of our civilization. It is the notion that our predecessors have had great questions and attempted to answer them. Because of their efforts and their willingness to share their ideas and experiences over time, we stand on their shoulders.

At the recent ASIS 2012 show in Philadelphia, General Dynamics Information Technology unveiled their new approach to security information management.

I was personally interviewed by Cygnus Security magazine at their exhibit as they launched the first version of their Global Security Operations Center (GSOC). 

During the show, General Dynamics IT asked me to present information from my interviews with the security ecosystem (Security Executives, Security Consultants, Integrators and Technology Vendors).

A Seattle institution balances security, the customer experience and the budget

It took hundreds of years to find its way into a building. It was a part of our history. In many ways, it represents who we were as well as where we are going. And if it is lost, stolen, or damaged, it cannot be replaced.

Brandon Knutson, Security Manager at The Museum of Flight in Seattle, has the role of protecting historical artifacts of 'great significance'.  He must team with the department heads of the museum to develop solutions that protect the museum but also are minimally invasive to the public and its experience.

To do this well is a balancing act of competing interests. On the one hand you have the management of funds which must be distributed to competing interests. "We each get a little bit." On the other end you have the competing goals of preservation, customer delight, and security.

Tom Miller, The Sage Group, to Speak on September 10

Tom Miller, one of The Sage Group partners, will be the Keynote speaker at the AIM Summit (Automatic Identification and Mobility Association) to be held September 10, 2012 at the Crown Plaza Hotel and Conference Center O-Hare, Rosemont, Illinois.

AIM is the international trade association representing automatic identification and mobility technology solution providers. Through the years, industry leaders continue to work within AIM to promote the adoption of emerging technologies.

Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC)

The Sage Group partnered with Cygnus to produce a series of interviews at The Great Conversation in Seattle in March of this year.

Arnold Bell, Program Director of the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC) of the FBI, spoke as a keynote at the conference. Cygnus' editors were able to sit down with him at the event to discuss DSACs role in the security ecosystem.

Bell sees DSAC as an executive outreach between a public agency and a private company. "Our touch points are the senior security officers", he said. DSAC is composed of companies that are part of the Fortune 1000; that is, they have over $1B in revenue, have an executive security and risk officer and have an intelligence component to their program.