What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?
There are many achievements that I am very proud of, purely because at the onset they looked unachievable; this includes seemingly impossible targets and extremely challenging projects. However, the achievement that gives me most pride and joy is my decision to join a start-up, Cyberoam (it was acquired by Sophos in 2014), which spread its wings in 125 countries in a decade. This gave me an opportunity to tackle a wide array of challenges that a growing company faces, and ensure that I contribute to its strategic growth objectives.
What first made you think of a career in technology?
I have always believed that technology has the power to change the way we live, for the better. When the time came to decide what I wanted to do in life, I had no doubts in my mind that I wanted to leverage the potential of technology for transforming the lives of people, businesses and the world at large.
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?
There are five values that define our organisation and which drive the action of every employee, these include: Simplicity, Empowerment, Passion, Innovation and Authenticity. This management philosophy has enabled our organisation to revolutionise the world of IT security with advanced network and endpoint solutions to address next-generation threats.
What do you think will be the hot technology talking point of 2016?
The world of IT security is facing a three pronged challenge in the form of increasing attack surfaces (growing deployment of third platform technologies), targeted attacks and growing sophistication of these attacks. The answer to these challenges doesn’t lie in complex solutions. What is needed is security technology that is comprehensive, works as a system and is simple to deploy, control and maintain. This, in my opinion, will be the hottest talking point of 2016 and beyond.
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside of the office?
Managing stress is critical for making the right decisions. For me, the knowledge that I am doing a job that I love and there is no other job that I would rather be doing right now, helps me manage my stress. What’s more, I have always subscribed to a healthy work-life balance, which has allowed me to keep my stress levels in control.
If you could go back and change one career decision, what would it be?
While I do look back at many of decisions, just to evaluate them dispassionately after action has been taken on them, I honestly don’t perceive any decision I have made as a mistake. All decisions, especially the ones that haven’t turned out the way I and the company hoped they would, have taught me a lot and enabled me to take the right decisions the next time round. I see each decision, right or wrong, as a learning experience.
