Stephan Berner, the CEO at Help AG, speaks about his company’s achievements in 2017 and his outlook for 2018.
What were the major technology and market trends in 2017?
I believe cybersecurity has continued to be the dominant force in the IT industry this year. Despite enterprises becoming increasingly judicious of their IT spending, security spending is growing.
For many channel players, this has mean playing catch up by only now adding security solutions to their portfolios. As an organization that has focused solely on cyber security since its establishment, Help AG is now perfectly positioned to address the security needs of Middle East enterprises, whether it is through the deployment of solutions, implementation of standards or delivery of services.
Do you believe any technology buzzwords from 2017 will really kick-off in 2018?
Regional uptake of cloud computing still lags behind mature markets. This has been due to a number of factors, among which are the associated security and privacy concerns.
But we have begun to see cloud service provides now investing in the region and building their data centres in the Middle East. This addresses several concerns that businesses have so we’re very likely to see cloud adoption growth healthily in 2018.
How has 2017 been for your company and business?
We were able to reshape our cyber security services and solution portfolio while helping our clients focus on their business requirements. We are proud to continue to grow our business with existing customers as well adding new accounts to our references list.
We placed a large focus on delivering quality services for consulting, implementation, and support. For our MSS, we added 25 new enterprise and government organizations to our platform using 24×7 Security Monitoring and Incident Response services.
What were your major achievements in the year 2017?
We have received a large amount of recognition, both from the industry and our vendor partners, having won a number of awards including:
- Palo Alto Networks EMEA Partner of the Year – Emerging Markets
- Fortinet Growth Partner of the Year
- F5 Network – Support Partner of the Year
- Cisco – Security Partner of the Year
- Starlink – Trusted Security Advisor
How do you foresee opportunities for 2018?
As per our forecast and market intelligence, the UAE will continue to be stable. We also see a positive development for our business in Saudi Arabia.
We see a big opportunity for us as Government and Enterprise organizations continue to appreciate, value, and trust our Managed Security Services operated from our fully certified Cyber Security Operation Centre in Dubai.
As is evident from the investment we continue to make in our CSOC, managed security services will be the main focus for Help AG in the coming year as we continue to extend the services we deliver to new and existing customers.
What sort of strategies do you have in place for 2018?
Help AG’s business strategy is based on creating value for our clients, employees, and business partners. The areas we focus on are Technology, People, and Processes. The objective is to run a profitable, cash flow positive operation to further invest into innovation, talent, and leadership. This is required to advise our customers through the journey of digital transformation within all aspects of Information Security.
