This month’s Oxygen IT Solutions Provider of the Month is a fast-growing cybersecurity specialist in the form of SEP2.
Only founded in 2016, SEP2 is already closing in on the 100 staff marker, CEO Paul Starr tells us. He reveals his mixed feelings on how the growth of the cyber market is luring more generalist competitors into the fray…
How large is SEP2 now?
SEP2’s headcount is 80 as of today, but with positions open across most teams we are expecting to end the year around the 100 mark. That will be a special day to celebrate: growing from three employees in 2016 to 100 by 2025, organically with no investment is something I know the three founders (Tim [Ward], Mike [Goodwin] and me) will be immensely proud of.
Our plan is to continue to grow organically and invest in our people. Maintaining a healthy and caring culture is important to us so we will employ the right people, at the right level, at the right time.
We heard you’re expanding internationally. What’s driving that?
Demand. SEP2 have always provided services across the world – just like our customers. As they expand into new markets we’re part of that journey too, ensuring their cyber security maintains the high standards that have helped to enable their growth.
We now have a business registered in Ireland along with ‘boots on the ground’ there in the form of a sales team. We are in the process of incorporating in the US, and we’re getting great support from a number of our core vendors who are looking for us to deliver the same quality services to their customers across that region.
Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet have become the big names in network security. Why do you specialise in Check Point?
If I could throw the question back at you, I’d ask what you define as a ‘big name.’ From my perspective, Check Point have 30 years of pedigree, are a billion-dollar organisation with a global brand and are hugely technology focussed.
SEP2’s solid foundations were built on providing the best support services as a Check Point partner — we were invited last year to become an Elite Partner alongside BT, Bytes, Computacenter and Softcat. We were also awarded UK Partner of the Year in April. We’re proud to be a specialised partner, as it demonstrates to our customers that we recognise Check Point as a leader in the cyber security industry.
For me, it’s a no brainer to pick the technology I know can deliver for the customer. Hold the front page, because I think you’ll see their reputation solidified as the big name in the near future.
The cyber market must look appealing for mainstream IT VARs and MSPs right now. Are you seeing increased competition from generalists?
SEP2 was founded on the principle of being purely focused on cyber security. I have been in conversations with exactly those generalists and heard the phrase ‘we like to dabble in cyber security’ (yes, that made me physically shake when I heard that!). To those working in this industry day-to-day, it’s a fact that it’s a specialist subject. I’m not saying that generalists can add no value, as sometimes there’s a wider perspective to be had, but cyber attacks are one of the fastest-moving threats to businesses. If you aren’t ahead of the curve and on your “A game,” you are going to expose your customer to risk
Furthermore, SEP2 and others who specialise in the arena are reporting a skills gap. So how would a generalist recruit enough talent to provide that service?
However, I do think though it’s important to encourage, work with and collaborate with the mainstream and complementary specialist partners. It’s up to those of us working in the cyber security industry to promote a healthy ecosystem where businesses utilise specialists when they need to. We’re engaged in a number of relationships that work in that complementary way, and we will see more of this in the future.
You codename your internal projects after confectionary. Why?
It was born out of attempt to neutralise preconceived ideas about meetings and encourage a positive, open-minded approach. If our quarterly deep dive into financial performance is called ‘Project Percy Pig,’ frankly it’s not quite as ominous (but don’t tell our FD Mahreen, as those are her favourite!)
It has developed over the years. We used a new codename recently which wasn’t confectionary based: ‘Project Bruno.’ This was a project everyone wanted to be involved in, but we had to keep it to a small group to help keep focus, so “We don’t talk about Bruno!” (Thank you, Disney. Looking forward to The Lion King meeting!)
How would you rate SEP2’s progress when it comes to sustainability, ESG and employee wellbeing?
We probably don’t shout about this enough. We’ve had a very clear intention from the beginning that we aren’t just here to cash in on the cyber market. We want to make a difference to our employees’ lives and conduct business in a conscious manner.
For us, it has become a way of life and we are continually reviewing what we can do better. For now, we have:
- have a fleet of fully electric cars
- a cyber schools programme for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds
- the Women in SEP2 initiative, which focuses on making SEP2 an inclusive place to work, finding ways to improve diversity in SEP2 and the wider industry
- continual investment in new people via our apprenticeship scheme and graduate programme
- a highly active charity committee
- Mental Health First Aider training across all teams
- Encouraged use of employee assistance programs
These are in addition to a suite of employee benefits aimed at enhancing employee wellbeing and helping with day-to-day living costs. I’m happy with our progress and ready to hear more ideas from our people about what we should be doing next.
Towards the end of Covid, we realised that our employees weren’t taking enough time off, and their mental health was suffering as a result. So, we introduced an incentive of personal days, giving everyone one extra day off a week for a month. We saw that service was not affected, and the benefits to our people were evident. We might be participating in 4gust this year, and we may look into making this a more regular occurrence going forward.
2024 would be a successful year for SEP2 if…
Keeping it simple, happy customers, happy employees and happy partners mean we’ll go into 2025 bigger and stronger. We want to continue to keep our customers secure and create more SOC services as we grow internationally.
