Welcome to Ask the Experts, brought to you by CloudServicesUniversity.com. In this video, Intelisys’ SVP Cloud Transformation Andrew Pryfogle discusses how modern security risks and the enormous pressure to grow revenue can complicate the management of DIY security strategies with CenturyLink’s Jared Ruckle. Learn more about cloud security solutions from the CenturyLink team here: https://cloudservicesuniversity.com/supplier-directory/centurylink/
| Andrew: | Okay guys. Let’s do another Ask the Experts session here. We’ve had this theme come up quite a bit around the people side of a security solution and frankly the increasing complexities around managing a holistic security strategy for a business. I’ve asked to come back to the studios here Jared Ruckle. Jared is the Product Manager for CenturyLink. Jared, welcome man. |
| Jared: | Thanks. Happy to be here. |
| Andrew: | All right. You’re in the weeds on this stuff every single day and I want to ask your opinion about something. With the increasing complexity and the bigger and bigger risks that companies are taking on around security; network security, data security. Is it becoming . . . this idea of them doing this on their own. Managing it on their own. Building the systems, the process, staffing the people, the talent. Doing that all on their own. Is that becoming riskier than it’s ever been before? And I guess the follow up is, is it borderline now foolish to try and do it on your own? What do you think about that? |
| Jared: | The security landscape is changing pretty dramatically and you know, no one company can stay on top of it all. I think if you look at what IT is really being asked to do these days, it’s to really be an agent of change for the business. It’s no longer enough to be a reactive helpdesk, fixing exchange boxes, and trouble-shooting phone systems, and you’re installing anti-virus software. The market is demanding more from businesses. New applications, mobility, launching new things all the time. And so security has always remained a high priority. But now I think IT can’t afford to treat it with bodies and dollars. They have to think creatively about how they address security and that means working with a lot of partners that do infrastructure and people that have real important add-on appliances to meet certain applications. |
| Just like I think it’s probably foolish for companies to really be thinking about growing their on-prem data center. No CEO ever said, “Great job building servers guys.” These executives want to change, they want revenue, they want growth and running a data center and even securing a data center doesn’t help that. Especially when you can go to public cloud or hybrid cloud services and get a lot of really attractive security options for a lot less than you probably think. | |
| Andrew: | Frankly, building all that in your own prem may not help the revenue side of the equation. Boy, but if done wrong, it can certainly hurt it, huh? |
| Jared: | Absolutely. And I think you have seen maybe, Target as kind of a good example, to go full circle, where they got hacked and so they said, “Okay let’s think carefully about this.” They actually had to throttle traffic on Cyber Monday. And a lot of people got error messages wanting to buy stuff on Target’s website and couldn’t because Target couldn’t handle security and the high traffic at the same time. The reality is in business today, you don’t have a choice. You have to meet revenue and growth demands and provide security along the way. That’s where a lot of these new services really come into play. Especially, on the cloud side where a lot of it comes bundled in or is really easy to add on. |
| Andrew: | Guys, it’s such a great point. That is where customers need so much help right now. Especially C-level executives that are looking at really aggressive growth requirements and at the same time enormous risks around security. They can co-exist, those competing priorities, if you have the right team in place. And more often than not, it’s going to be a team like a CenturyLink, like others that can do that heavy lifting for the customer. Hey, thank you, Jared. Great stuff. Thanks for the insight, bud. |
| Jared: | Yeah, sure thing. Anytime, Andrew. |
| Andrew: | Outstanding. Guys, that’s Jared Ruckle. He’s a Product Manager for CenturyLink. One of our go-to suppliers in our portfolio for robust networks and robust cloud solutions, guys. Public and hybrid cloud solutions with security wrappers around them that can really solve real pressing issues for your large customers. Good selling everyone. |
