Meeting w/ John Sileo in Denver This Afternoon

I arrived in Denver this afternoon for the Accuvant National Sales Kick-off Meeting downtown. I got an added bonus, meeting with Identity Theft expert and Author John Sileo at the Starbucks across the street from my hotel. John has been a long time friend and associate through the National Speakers Association – in preparation for tomorrow’s presentation, John and I had the opportunity to discuss issues surrounding company data security and the future of CISOs and CIOs.

This is a critical time for businesses in the US. Cyberwarfare capabilities continue to mount around the world – our own government admits they can’t keep hackers out of our networks, analysts have told us that Chinese hackers have infiltrated every major company in this country, and our nations largest banks are reporting endless denial of services attacks on online banking systems over the past several months.

Meanwhile, new technology demands are changing the security landscape. Big data, mobility and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), collaborative technologies and social business applications, and cloud demands are increasing. The CIO is stretched between maintaining the operational side of the business and leading the charge on these transformational technologies that serve both employees and customers. The CISO must morph into someone who can support and secure these changes as their business adopts new ways of serving their clients.

Tomorrow I will be speaking to sales people, specially targeting security business in the mid to large markets – on just how the sales role must change in order to meet the demands of the future CIO and CISO. These technology officers must become more strategic to the business – and as they do that, they will need trusted advisers. Just as all good leaders surround themselves with trustworthy advisers, these leaders will need more of it. With the ongoing demands of operations, and the fast pace changes taking place across the technology areas I’ve mentioned, who can keep up. In a recent interview with a CIO, I was told, “We need more advisers, yet it is nearly impossible to find good ones.” This is a sad commentary on the reseller business…there are thousands of resellers in any major city, and countless vars across the States, yet, these technology leaders are having trouble finding qualified advisers. This sounds like an opportunity for someone who is willing to take time to do just a little reading each morning.