Afni is a US-based global customer engagement company supporting its clients in developing meaningful and profitable relationships with their customers. With approximately 10,000 employees globally, the firm primarily offers receivables management and contact support services over the phone and via web chat, striving to resolve customer issues, lend a helping hand, and improve the days of those that it supports.
Collaboration is critical
Deterding brings unique expertise to the role of CISO. For almost 20 years, he acted as a cyber security practitioner working with a leading security vendor specialising in threat detection, incident response, and security strategy. Deterding spent 15 of those years in various operations roles, while the latter five were spent in sales positions. With experience in both backgrounds, he brings plenty of cross-business knowhow to his new role.
“Frequently, CISOs and CIOs have strained relationships. Often, CISOs are seen as a hindrance to ‘getting things done’, but our CIO Mike and I have a fantastic relationship because we’re both focused on enabling the business.”
“Frankly, the level of risk posed by cyber threats dictates that companies simply need to move past that and develop functional, working relationships that operate in the best interests of the wider business.”
Unlocking security as a sales enabler
This idea that the CISO should enable the business manifests itself in several key objectives for Deterding.
The first of these is compliance, ensuring the business is adhering to regulation and legislation to prevent violations and protect the organisation from potential fines and lawsuits.
Second is avoiding other potential costs that might be incurred through security failures, achievable by reducing the organisation’s attack surface and catching potential threats as early as possible.
“Third is increasing efficiency – helping internal colleagues to not only operate more securely but equally effectively,” Deterding adds. “This might entail moving towards a password-less architecture, for example. If employees don’t have to type in a password, their lives become easier and the whole company works more efficiently. But guess what? We’ve also increased security.”
Additionally, in the view of this CISO, there is a relatively new fourth role – sales enablement. Operating as a contact centre solutions specialist, Afni faces stiff competition in a market of many players. Within this context, differentiators can be critical – something that security is increasingly able to offer. “If security can participate in the sales process, then the advantages are clear…”
