Sababa Security S p A : “What I saw in Sababa is the enthusiasm of a start-up and the potential of a company that is already well positioned in the market”

The development and growth of an organisation cannot be separated from the figure of a Chief Business Officer. This is where Andrea Ghislandi - the new entry of Sababa's Management team - comes in. With over 20+ years of experience in the IT industry, he will support the evolution of the company by working closely with our CEO and all the other departments, especially the Sales and Delivery teams. Read the interview below to find out more about his previous experiences and his mission here at Sababa.

Let's start with a small introduction. We know you have a long career behind you. What have been your past experiences?

I entered the IT industry in 1997 with a technical role, and then moved to the commercial area. In 2003 I opened the security Business Unit of the company I was working in, with the idea of bringing to the market solutions that were not Security commodities (such as firewalls or antivirus). I started scouting at an international level, especially in Tel Aviv, where I found very interesting emerging solutions that anticipated a bit the needs of Italian customers. I decided to bring those solutions to Italy and fortunately it was a success, since they then became leaders in their respective Gartner quadrant. In 2008 I created a new division dedicated to security training and governance, while 6 years later I developed the Competence Center that focused on process automation and digital marketing. I did take some risks, but at the end of the day I was able to double the revenue.

We know you came back to the business after a short break. What did you see in Sababa that made you choose it?

I left my company in October 2021. After a short break and some quality time with the family, several companies started contacting me - from partners to competitors - but I chose Sababa, which was not really on the list of those organisations I was taking into consideration. What did I see? The same spirit I had when I created the security business unit, being driven by that desire to do things, to improve, to grow. In Sababa I found both the enthusiasm of a start-up and the potential of a company that is already well positioned in the market. All of this took me back to when I opened my start-up, working 24/7, going out at night, but still talking about business and sharing ideas. It's like going back in time, but with 20+ years of experience.

What will be your role and mission here at Sababa?

I will be the Chief Business Officer, with direct coordination of both sales and technical areas. My goal is to bring here the expertise from a more structured company, which has already experienced all the difficulties of onboarding new people, creating strong relations with Vendors, having procedures to be improved and structure a more resilient sales cycle.

On the one hand, I will support indirect sales, developing relationships with new partners and outlining what the offering will be. On the other hand, I will lead the relationships with the direct market and with vendors, with the goal of shifting from a purely services oriented approach to being a solution integrator, thus having the skills to bring an end-to-end project, from licensing to hardware, to implementation and management services.

How would you position Sababa in the market? And what do you mean by vendor, MSP, system integrator and security consultant?

The vendor is the one who develops proprietary solutions and products, bringing them to the market. A vendor who is good at developing products, however, needs relationships and skills in the field to be able to bring them to the end users, and this is where the solution integrator comes in, rather than system integrator. Why so? Today you no longer give a "box" to the customers and configure it for them: the solution you need to implement has a whole range of impacts on their organisation and processes. You then need to understand how the solution can fit into their context and what are the needs. There are integration services that are no longer tied to technology, but range from process integration, to auditing, to regulations. The MSP instead is someone who offers a service, while security consultants should be technology-independent and therefore offer their security expertise regardless of the underlying technology. This is getting harder and harder to realise because the challenges are becoming more vertical and specific.

How would I position Sababa in the market? Being a security vendor is very complicated. In order to develop proprietary products and solutions you need huge investments that are completely different from those you can run in Italy. In my opinion, Sababa should develop value security services for the channel, offering niche products; on the direct market, Sababa should be a solution integrator capable of efficiently deploying technology solutions. Each client reality is different and the implementation model must be unique in order to have the least impact on the business. The best security solution is the one that secures the business, solving the problem, without users realising it.

If you could gain any skill in 10 minutes, which one would you choose?

I wish I could sing and play piano, especially for the sake of my singing teacher who has to listen to me every week. Until you start doing something, you don't realise how hard it is: I could use Excel all day long, but as for singing or playing…

What is your motto in life?

I would say to persist, no matter what I do. When I have an idea in my head or a goal to achieve, I never give up until I have accomplished them.

What cyber security advice would you give to companies? And what advice would you give to security suppliers?

The advice I would give to companies is to know their own internal context before deciding which projects to undertake. Often companies buy technologies that they don't use. For this reason it is important to understand what your level of risk is and to which extent you are able to manage security solutions. Once this is done, you need to establish a 36-months security roadmap. In order to invest wisely in cyber security you should have the capabilities to manage the solutions, because either you start the project and you are able to manage it, or you let a third party manage it or it's better not to even start.

The advice I would give to vendors and to us is to try to understand the customers before offering a project and help them to think this through, otherwise we will ruin the market.