Cathy R. Paglinawan (ABBE)
Filipino consulting services firm ABBE is breaking ground in the ASEAN cyber market, supported by Dell Technologies, amidst a climate of heightened cyber attacks.
Finding allyship with the vendor, Cathy Paglinawan, president of ABBE, discussed with Channel Asia key priorities in the provider’s go-to-market strategy and how they are addressing customer concerns with Dell in the Philippines and beyond in ASEAN.
According to IDC’s 2022 Security Sourcing Survey, cybersecurity remains a high priority investment area for majority of Southeast Asian businesses, with a preference to procure solutions from third-party providers.
With an estimated spend of US$3.2 billion on cybersecurity services, software and appliance in 2021 by organisations in the region, and an expected increase at a five-year CAGR of 13.6 % to reach US$6.1 billion by 2026, ABBE is looking to capitalise on the demand for security solutions that tackle more and more sophisticated attacks.
“As organisations become increasingly aware of the cybersecurity risks that threaten their mission-critical operations and their reputation, IT security has become an essential part of enterprise digital strategy,” stated Paglinawan.
“In addition, with newer, more sophisticated security threats emerging and the increased proliferation of cyberattacks in recent years, there is a growing and urgent need for security leaders to prioritize cyber resiliency.”
Addressing concerns in the region
The expanded risk landscape has been attributed to a multitude of factors such as the pandemic-driven hybrid and remote work system that has now shifted to a ‘work from anywhere’ mode.
“With hackers and solution providers at constant loggerheads and the acceleration of digital transformation, cyber security is a rapidly growing sector,” Paglinawan evaluated.
The changes to the way we work and live have opened the floodgates for threat actors to prey on new attack surfaces like employees’ personal devices and unsecured internet networks, resulting in more cases of ransomware and data breaches.
Additionally, Paglinawan noted that the increase in cloud services and cloud computing presents both opportunities and risk.
“As more organisations shift to the cloud, multiple users are given access to data and this increases susceptibility to breaches. In turn, solutions providers have combated this with AI-powered cybersecurity, which may be able to neutralise cybercrime by recognising the patterns of behaviours,” she added.
Specific to the Filipino market, Paglinawan indicated that beyond budgetary and financial constraints, the exposure of sensitive information and proprietary data from various target markets remain a challenge.
While various industries and organisations of all sizes are subject to cyber attacks, ABBE observed that large businesses are more likely to be targeted than small to medium enterprises, whether directly or indirectly.
Hence, with mission-critical operations and their reputation on the line, businesses have realised that IT security has become an essential part of the enterprise digital strategy.
“Therein lies the opportunity for Dell and ABBE,” asserted Paglinawan. “Focusing more on the telecom and financial sectors with a multi-segment approach, Dell and ABBE’s go-to-market strategy is to increase awareness on cyber resiliency and security innovations.”
Alliance with Dell
Together with Dell, ABBE intends to introduce “proactive, comprehensive and stronger” protection solutions. In particular, Paglinawan highlighted that the Dell PowerProtect cyber recovery solution has been a key component of their portfolio in addressing customer concerns.
“Dell PowerProtect provides proven, modern and intelligent data protection, isolating it from cyber threats like ransomware,” she outlined.
“It provides a combination of professional consulting and technology with key elements such as planning and design, vault analytics and recovery procedures. With Dell PowerProtect, organisations not only have their critical data protected but also their business continuity and brand reputation.”
Recognising the substantial usage of cloud, ABBE extended their appreciation for Dell’s understanding of their established practices around public cloud providers and service to customers who host data and applications across the major platforms.
Paglinawan acknowledged that Dell’s solution provided “compatibility” with the various cloud platforms, offering “greater choice and flexibility” to support customers with a “consistent” experience regardless if they are hosting their assets on-premise, in a colocation facility or in the public cloud.
“It has allowed ABBE to deliver fast and secure solutions to our customers, improving their cyber resiliency and reducing the impact of cyberattacks,” she added.
In one case, leveraging Dell PowerProtect has enabled the provider to address challenges faced by Filipino businesses, thereby winning customer trust, and ABBE gaining confidence in a cyber recovery solution designed as an as-a-Service (aaS) OPEX model.
According to Paglinawan, the process started out with a series of workshops tailored for customers as well as information-gathering sessions around their applications to understand the criticality of data to their day-to-day business operations. Following Dell’s cyber recovery services scheme, a two-pronged approach of advisory and implementation was engaged.
“For advisory, Dell provides recommendations on integrating and optimising the cyber recovery solutions in our customer’s data protection environment. This is accomplished by analysing their current and future state to create a tailored strategy for cyber recovery preparedness, ensuring tight alignment with their business needs for protection and recovery,” she explained.
“With the insights uncovered, we drive recommendations of what should be protected by the Cyber Recovery Vault and will make up their Minimum Viable Company – a collection of their most critical data and applications which can be used to rebuild core functions first and get the business running again.”
Lastly, in the implementation stage, ABBE would integrate the cyber recovery solution into the data protection environment and use information gathered to further tailor the solution to more specific needs.
Paglinawan underscored the continued “collaborative effort” between ABBE and Dell as being central to its growth plans, while doubling down the need to advocate for cyber resiliency and services that help organisations achieve it.
She also gave further insight into the opportunities that lie ahead for them in collaborating with Dell, and specifically its PowerProtect offering, in terms of expanding ABBE’s long-term engagement plan with customers and helping them integrate cyber resiliency initiatives in their digital transformation roadmap.
“Coupled with our commitment to providing excellent customer service and after sales support, it has not only helped retain our existing customer base but to also attract new ones,” she affirmed. “In addition, the credible and reliable customer installation base reference for Dell PowerProtect has made it easier for us to venture out and attract new customers.”
Meanwhile, as part of its plans for the region, ABBE shared it will remain focused on serving customers in the banking, telecommunications and utilities sectors who manage their digital platforms and use data as their “core identity”.
“Utilising multiple marketing channels and continuous discovery sessions, we aim to make information around cyber security and resiliency readily accessible in the market and easily attainable for both existing and new customers,” she added.
“With the strength and breadth of Dell’s portfolio and ABBE’s resources, we are confident that we can cover more mileage, achieve better results and create expansive impact across Philippines and the region.”
