Accuvant-FishNet CMO Dishes On Hiring Spree, Global Expansion And The Future Of Optiv Security

Accuvant-FishNet Set Their Sights On More Workers, Foreign Lands

The merger of Accuvant and FishNet Security -- and the upcoming name change to Optiv Security -- are just the first of many changes planned for the $1.5 billion security solution provider.

Steve Perkins, chief marketing officer for Accuvant and FishNet, No. 48 and No. 46 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, respectively, said the 1,500-person firm plans to hire hundreds of new people specializing in everything from client management to security consulting to managed services.

The company also is looking to expand its technical, sales and marketing capabilities outside North America, where the company today has just a single office in London.

Accuvant-FishNet To Add Hundreds Of Jobs In 2015

Accuvant and FishNet already have increased their employee head count from 1,400 when their merger closed in early February to nearly 1,500 today, and that number is only expected to grow.

Perkins said the company plans to hire hundreds of new people this year alone to support the unprecedented demand for security services. FishNet had its best year ever in 2014, growing revenue by 30 percent, while Accuvant has enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent between 2009 and 2013.

The new employees will be working out of Accuvant's Denver headquarters, FishNet's Overland Park, Kan., headquarters, as well as 60 other company offices across the United States and Canada.

Hires To Span Field, Technical, Managed Services Groups

The new hires will be added to Accuvant and FishNet's field organization, technical resource and managed services teams, Perkins said.

The company will expand its client management organization by adding client advisers (its equivalent of sales reps), as well as technical, services and architectural advisers, Perkins said.

Another area of employment growth will be technical resource jobs around Accuvant and FishNet's security lines and security consulting business, which assists with everything from identity and access management to compliance to the Internet of Things.

Finally, the company plans to add operations staff and management positions for its three security operations centers (SOCs), which provide support to the company's managed security services practice.

Accuvant-FishNet To Grow Technical, Sales, Marketing Presence Abroad

The company already has a pretty nice footprint across the United States because Accuvant mostly expanded west from Denver while FishNet primarily moved east from the Kansas City area. Still, the company is looking to fill in white spaces in the U.S. as well as grow in Canada, where it has a smaller presence.

Most exciting prospects surround international expansion, where the company wants to both increase its technical ability to service North America-based multinational corporations in sites outside of North America, as well as boost its sales and marketing presence overseas to land foreign-based companies.

The company is considering both growing organically abroad, as well as through mergers and acquisitions.

Why The Company Opted To Not Stick With The Accuvant Or FishNet Name

The company opted to go with a new name rather than keeping either Accuvant or FishNet to ensure both a fresh look and equitable partnership.

"Having winners or losers [in terms of the business name] is just not good business management," Perkins said.

Both the Accuvant and FishNet names have historically been associated with VARs that provide services, Perkins said, failing to accurately reflect each company's evolution into a top-tier solution provider.

Customers already recognize this shift, and Perkins said he expects the name change will help the marketplace and financial community be even more aware of this transformation.

Company Had To Navigate Linguistic, Legal Hurdles With New Name

Consulting firm Lippincott took the lead on renaming the company, Perkins said, and, after getting to understand Accuvant and FishNet, used both domains to generate more than 1,200 name possibilities.

Once the team narrowed down the list to a few possibilities, the linguistic and legal searches began. On the linguistic side, the team considered secondary meanings of the words in Europe and Asia to help avoid unfortunate associations.

The company also looked to see if any of the possible names infringed upon an existing trademark or patent. Perkins said the company had to scrap a couple of special and powerful names under consideration due to linguistic or legal issues.

What Does 'Optiv' Mean, Anyway?

The Optiv name came out of talks by the executive team about what it wanted the company to become.

Accuvant and FishNet leaders embraced the Optiv name because it was clean and had deep meaning, Perkins said.

The company felt the newly coined word conveyed a simple and powerful message about what it was looking to do, Perkins said – namely, help end users understand their security options ("Op") and activate ("tiv") them.

Why The Company Stayed Away From Names Including 'Defend' Or 'Secure'

Going by Optiv also offered the company the benefit of a moniker that was easy to spell and understand.

"There are not many five-letter words in the universe [that haven't already been claimed by another company]," Perkins said.

Pretty much every name around "defend" or "secure" already had been taken, Perkins said, meaning the company would have needed to combine words or use a multiword name had they gone in that direction.

"All of the traditional words didn't work," Perkins said. "Nearly every traditional word in the planet is taken."

How Optiv Settled On Denver Headquarters

Selecting Denver over Overland Park, Kan., for the corporate headquarters of the combined company made the most sense after considering economic and growth packages offered, Perkins said. Denver had been Accuvant's corporate headquarters, which was home to six of the eight people ultimately selected to be on Optiv's executive team.

Optiv has no plans to centralize command or control of its operations in Denver, Perkins said, and leadership will continue to be spread across both locations.

FishNet's Overland Park headquarters will continue to serve as the company's showcase facility, with a state-of-the-art Executive Briefing Center and Security Operations Center (SOC).

How Optiv Will Be Rebranded

Rebranding a company is a much bigger effort than most lay people would anticipate, Perkins said, involving everything from collateral materials and websites, to statements of work and master service agreements.

Now that the Optiv name has been announced, the company can begin interacting with suppliers and manufacturers on its new look and feel.

The company currently is thinking it will unveil its new logo when it officially adopts the Optiv name during the summer, Perkins said, but could end up sharing it a little bit sooner.

Services Are Already Being Cross-Sold

End users already are reaping the benefits of the merger, Perkins said.

By early March, FishNet customers were able to buy Accuvant products and services (and vice versa). While the two solution providers offered virtually identical security products, thanks to similar vendor relationships with Check Point Software Technologies, FireEye and Palo Alto Networks, Perkins said roughly 20 percent of the services offerings differed.

For instance, Accuvant had a LABS research arm that examines issues, such as penetration testing and vulnerability assessments, while FishNet had a strong identity access management practice. Now those offerings are available to all end users.

The Three-Step Process For Integrating Accuvant And FishNet

Accuvant and FishNet have adopted a three-point plan to transition from being two separate companies to a single, unified company, Perkins said.

The first phase -- which Perkins said has been completed -- involved bringing teams together from both companies and breaking down the walls of traditional rivals.

Next, Perkins said the companies needed to unify their business system platform and harmonize common offerings, so, for instance, a penetration test performed by Accuvant technicians and one performed by FishNet technicians are the same thing.

Now the company is in the final phase, which is unifying the brand so that Accuvant and FishNet can operate in the marketplace as a single entity.