NITESH SINHA

A CYBERSECURITY EVANGELIST CARVING A NICHE IN INTEGRATIONS FOR 3^RD PARTY PRODUCTS

With the rapid digitalization, every business, now more than ever, is striving to stay ahead of the curve. In that vein, cybersecurity is becoming a critical aptitude in an organization’s proficiency. The business world has been hit by multiple ransomware assaults in the last two years. And it’s only going to become worse as the technological landscape evolves and hackers discover new tactics. Businesses need real-time ‘plumbing’ solutions that reinforce both their defense and offense against disruptive threats.

Lending credence to this, cybersecurity firms are concerned about creating integrations for novel third-party products that are compatible with existing integration connectors. On average, security product companies need 150-200 connectors to improve the functionality of their products. Sacumen, a Bengaluru-based technology firm, specializes in addressing this “Necessary evil,” as the industry refers to it.

Our publication recently had an opportunity for a virtual meet with Nitesh Sinha, Founder and CEO of Sacumen. The following article offers a detailed view of the subsequent discussion, which focuses on his leadership abilities in making Sacumen a cybersecurity gamechanger.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION
Nitesh is a cybersecurity evangelist with a strong legacy in the Information Security space. He has spent more than a decade developing various security products and carries prominent security certifications to his name like CCISO, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CISSP, CSSLP, CEH, CCSK, and HCISPP. While it was quite a struggling phase, he rose through the ranks honing his skills and enhancing his experience. Eventually, he took an interest in contributing to the cybersecurity space through his expertise over time.

He discovered the demand for novel connectors for third-party integrations at cybersecurity firms while scouring the market for opportunities. His passion and innovative idea draw the attention of Clarion Venture Partners. They approached him to start a venture focusing on cutting-edge cybersecurity technologies, bringing Sacumen into the limelight.

Nitesh’s vision with Sacumen was to be a specialist security service provider with bespoke products for the ever-changing security concerns, competitive market, and business dynamics. He has been a risk-taker and an ardent learner all along. His technical expertise as a developer has evolved Sacumen to pivot faster and with a varied skill set. His abilities have helped the firm build a reputation for keeping clients ahead of the threat landscape by automating product capabilities and providing real-time visibility to respond to threats.

A GAMUT OF BESPOKE OFFERING
Cybersecurity is a vast space, and most firms serve a varied client base. Sacumen’s focus to serve only cybersecurity players makes it distinct in the pantheon. Keeping clients at the forefront, it primarily works in connector development, connector support, and product engineering, all having a distinct strategic approach that ensures trust and innovation at every level.

It has developed 750+ connectors in SIEM Integration, DevOps, Cloud Applications, Cloud Storage, Ticketing systems, Threat Intelligence, Cloud Monitoring, Endpoint Protection and Incident Response. Clients can also sign AMCs with them for developed connectors, and the firm will offer end-to-end technical support, bug-fixing and re-certification of connectors.

Lastly, Sacumen helps firms engineer innovative security products. “When it comes to product engineering, security product companies face a variety of issues, including expertise, faster time to market, pivoting, skillset needs, and scalability.” enunciates Nitesh. Sacumen assists through end-to-end development to address these challenges and impart a value-driven approach across the product lifecycle.

It has ample experience in QA, UX/UI, Mobility, Custom application development, product testing services for automation, performance, and user experience. It can create Center of Excellence (COE) to undertake Proof-of-Concepts (PoC) and prototype development.

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In its quest – to be the apex, Sacumen is leaving a dent in the universe with connectors, third-party integration, and developing products for security companies. It has a robust partner system that allows it to form new partnerships, obtain product licenses, and provide services with a reliable delivery process. Under Nitesh’s leadership, Sacumen has solidified a reputation for high-quality, quick-turnaround solutions around the globe.

ALIGNED ON A LEARNING CURVE
Technological innovations and related breakthroughs have compelled Sacumen to imbibe a learning mechanism. The deliberate focus on learning and innovation makes R&D a core investment. This helps in two ways: staying on top of client needs and becoming more flexible to market shifts and challenges. They put themselves in clients’ shoes and introspect the underlying needs/issues. Nitesh further adds, “The current client base prefers one entity handle all of their needs, which saves the hassles of knocking on multiple doors.” It fosters engagement and saves time to develop and deliver.

The security landscape is constantly driven by disruptive threats one-after-another. In terms of product integrations, cybersecurity firms often have disparate data formats and sources that are either outdated or low quality. Also, there can be an incompatibility between 3rd party integrations and product interfaces. Sacumen has use cases of varied integration challenges, which helps in being adaptive to all scenarios. The firm has a dedicated team of R&D personnel who scour for new integration strategies, analytics, etc., that can drive greater values to clients and make them more competitive.

NITESH SINHA: A GROWTH ENGINEEER
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other,” and it’s evident from Nitesh’s unmatched leadership forte. Throughout his career, he has actively completed each task before moving on to the next, maintaining a constant learning curve. However, his learning mindset isn’t limited to technology and innovations.

As the chieftain of the firm, he strives to learn anything and everything that fosters growth. “We even create a separate annual learning allowance for each member so they can learn when they want within their tenure,” says the founder. He values fairness, believes in taking charge and is very particular about his commitments, which helps him level up with new feats. His way of leadership is not only innovative but also adaptive to the current times.

A CONSTANTLY UPHEAVALING CULTURE
Ownership, Impact, Teamwork, Customer Delight and Fairness are the five pillars on which Sacumen is building its narrative. Their significance relates to what Nitesh envisions to be a corporate culture. He’s worked for firms of all sizes and shapes throughout the years, but often their principles were never something he could relate to. He believes that a culture that defines equality, trust and respect at all levels propels growth and fosters engagement.

At Sacumen, everyone from associate to executive takes charge of their actions, thus avoiding micro-management. This encourages people to experiment and challenge the current quo. The collaborative efforts strengthen everyone’s solidarity for a single goal. It improves client satisfaction, allowing them to achieve their objectives.

Such a value-driven culture surely helped them overcome COVID-19. They were able to better their clients’ existing connectors while also adding value through product engineering and end-to-end support. Sacumen had grown by 50-60% since mid-March and April and now has a rising graph. “We’re trying to make our processes more robust and scalable as we continue to deliver enterprise-scale, reliable connectors to our customers,” asserts Nitesh.

GOING OVER THE HORIZON
Sacumen’s remarkable growth within just 5 years showcases the unwavering resolve of its people. Over the last 5 years, it has achieved 100% Y-O-Y growth. The firm has offices in Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad in India, as well as New York in the USA. Sacumen has been ranked in the “Execution Zone in the Zinnov Zones for ER&D Services – 2021 ratings.” This prestigious rank has put them ahead of several small and large established cybersecurity players.

The firm’s foregoing plans are focused on expansion and maintaining its yearly turnover. They are willing to expand to European countries, starting with London. The cyberspace is expanding and introducing new challenges and intricacies in the threat landscape. This is an opportunity for the company to develop new products that will help them meet their revenue goals and contribute to the cybersecurity industry.