An Information Security Place

When I was looking to make a move out of security management, I knew I had a few choices as to what I wanted to move into.  I knew I wanted a pre-sales type of position, but I wasn’t sure about the type of company I wanted to work for.  Should I go for a vendor, or should I get back into the channel?  A few things came to mind:

1. Working for a vendor would force my hand on what products I could recommend.  So, if I knew of a solution that was a better fit for a company, I couldn’t suggest it and stay loyal to my employeer.  That was a negative for me.
2. Working for a reseller could possibly force my hand to some degree on what products I can choose, but at least I would have a bigger pool of products from which to work.  That was a positive for me.
3. A negative that comes from number two, however, is the fact that many resellers are nothing but vendor sluts and will sell anything to make a buck.  I am not adverse to making money, but I believe that if you are a reseller, you should be able to support the products that you sell.  I really did not want to get into the whole “we’ll take you to a ‘Stros game if you put our box in front of your client.”  I’ve been there, and I don’t want to deal with that again.  It just ain’t ethical.
4. I wanted to work for a company whose focus is security, but I wanted an organization that was diverse enough in that field to offer other opportunities in the future.
5. Another negative that often comes with vendors and resellers is high pressure sales.  I did not want to work for an outift that constantly called the client asking when they were going to cut a PO.  That reflects bad on everyone that works for that organization, no matter if you are a sales guy or an engineer.
6. I wanted to work for an outfit that had a good reputation, plain and simple.

Taking these factors into consideration, I looked for a company that could pass muster on most (preferrably ALL) of these areas.  I also preferred that I had done work with in the past since I would have a good feel for them and would not haave to rely solely on others’ opinions.

The first factor would be the hardest to pass if I went to work for a vendor.  That is because I don’t know of ANY vendor whose products fit every company in every situation.  There just ain’t no such animal.  And even though I interviewed (and ALMOST got the job) with a big vendor, I still had some hesitation because of this.

So that left me with a reseller.  I wanted a company with higher standards, who didn’t sell every possible product, and who could support what they sold.  That led me to Accuvant.  I had worked with them in the past, and to be honest, I never bought a single prodcut from them.  To be clear, that was not because they lacked the skill to sell or didn’t have any products I wanted.  It almost always came down to timing (I met them when I was looking at outsourcing some security tasks, then they came in with a possible SEM product after I had already purchased another) and their lack of full time staff here in Houston.  But their sales guys and engineers were always willing to help out, and they NEVER pressured me to buy.  They were diverse in their offerings because they could do security consultation and implementations of technologies.  And to top it off, they also had a great reputation in the industry, both from vendors that they partner with and with other security managers that I dealt with.  So, they basically fit all my criteria. 

Now this may sound like a commercial for Accuvant, and to some degree it might be.  But because this is such a big thing for me in my career and this blog, I wanted to explain the decision of the company for which I decided to work.  Also, many of these reasons for choosing them as an employeer also work when you are looking for a reseller or consultant, so many of you security managers out there who need a quality security company to help out, they might be a good choice.  And if you are in Houston, you will get me as your top notch security engineer!

Vet