Jason Button leads the Cisco Safety and Belief Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) group. He was previously the director of IT at Duo Safety, an organization Cisco acquired in 2018, making him uniquely positioned to lend his experience to the M&A course of. This weblog is the continuation of a collection centered on M&A cybersecurity listed on the finish of this submit.
This newest weblog submit will revisit the subject of Transferring Left to Proper: Cybersecurity Practices and Outcomes in M&A Due Diligence and classes discovered from implementing Cisco’s M&A Cybersecurity Framework final yr.
Measurement Issues
On this yr alone, Cisco has made ten acquisition bulletins, starting from small, agile start-ups to well-established, publicly traded corporations. The various dimension and complexity of the businesses we’re trying to purchase entail that we determine, assess, and regulate for danger otherwise.
Our M&A Cybersecurity Framework has allowed us to scale and streamline our discovery and danger evaluation processes to raised align with the extent of safety danger a deal poses. Utilizing customary safety guardrails, tooling, methods info, and different automated processes to display screen and assess non-integrated dangers, we will draft a Discovery Threat Evaluation earlier, thereby liberating up groups to deal with assessing extra advanced acquisitions and probably higher safety dangers.
Accelerating Integration
Proper-sizing your danger evaluation method has extra advantages, together with the power to determine areas of integration danger to speed up integration after the deal closes. An instance is the Valtix acquisition earlier this yr, the place we performed an aggressive and thorough discovery investigation to shut the deal earlier than the top of April. The driving issue was the chance to debut a necessary product integration demonstration in early June at Cisco Dwell, our flagship buyer occasion.
To fulfill this timeline, we wanted to make sure that the safety danger was manageable and that we had stakeholder buy-in. We labored carefully with cross-functional groups to determine and prioritize danger mitigation in order that we might meet our dedication. By having a strong framework in place, we had been capable of speed up the mixing course of whereas enabling the Valtix workforce to be more practical and productive in a brief period of time.
One other lesson we’ve discovered is prioritizing visibility into the acquired infrastructure earlier within the course of. Deploying instruments like Wiz.io and JuniperOne helps educate us about new environments and permits us to determine dangers sooner. That is vital when triaging and prioritizing efforts between the corporate being acquired and the enterprise it will likely be absorbed into. For the Armorblox and SamKnows acquisitions, we had been capable of deal with high-priority dangers and spend much less time spreading efforts throughout a number of work streams. Having a framework that helps us prioritize dangers is what’s most necessary and in the end makes for higher, safer merchandise.
Trying Again to Energy Ahead
One other necessary lesson discovered this yr was find out how to apply the M&A framework to re-visit earlier acquisitions to evaluate and perceive danger. Going by way of this course of with out time constraints or diligence pressures allowed us to hone our investigative strategies and refine our practices. For instance, we labored with the Meraki workforce, a mature group that was acquired over ten years in the past and a major contributor to Cisco’s portfolio. We combed by way of a decade’s value of knowledge to tell how we might simplify and streamline key areas of our integration framework and enhance our total safety stance.
Securely Enabling Enterprise Progress
One of many driving components for Cisco to accumulate corporations is to determine and spend money on new improvements that can enhance the safety and efficiency of our answer portfolio. The M&A Cybersecurity workforce works carefully with Cisco’s Company Improvement Integration workforce to evaluate and handle danger all through the invention, diligence, and integration course of.
The M&A Cybersecurity Framework has been a useful software to make sure that enterprise, engineering, and operations leaders align and deal with integration nicely earlier than the deal closes. Operational alignment with IT, Safety, and different capabilities has helped floor necessary points, corresponding to addressing workflows and person and buyer identities earlier than the mixing course of. We’ve additionally discovered that by elevating safety early within the M&A course of, we’re serving to the enterprise take away obstacles that might get in the best way of enterprise targets and obtain its worth drivers sooner, which ends up in accelerated enterprise development.
Incomes and Sustaining Belief
Management knowledgeable Simon Sinek has often acknowledged, “A workforce will not be a bunch of people that work collectively. A workforce is a bunch of people that belief one another.”
Our M&A Cybersecurity Framework is a useful software to assist securely allow the mergers and acquisition course of. Nonetheless, you may’t underestimate the non-public components wanted to make it successful. Constructing belief throughout a workforce takes time and requires specializing in creating relationships, being empathetic, and demonstrating respect for a corporation’s tradition.
The press launch saying Cisco’s intention to accumulate Splunk cited one of many key worth propositions: “Unites two “Nice Locations to Work” with related values, robust cultures, and gifted groups.” The M&A course of is far more than the mental property and expertise being acquired; the human capital and cultural strengths are sometimes probably the most useful belongings.
Trying again this yr, my colleague Mo Iqbal summed it up greatest, “We are able to’t perceive the applied sciences till we perceive the individuals and tradition that enabled them to be so profitable.”
If you’re keen on studying extra, please learn Greater than an Asset: The Folks Facet of Mergers & Acquisitions.
Further Sources
Mergers and Acquisitions Cyber Threat Administration
Cybersecurity Consciousness Month
Associated Blogs
Managing Cybersecurity Threat in M&A
Demonstrating Belief and Transparency in Mergers and Acquisitions
When It Involves M&A, Safety Is a Journey
Making Merger and Acquisition Cybersecurity Extra Manageable
Guaranteeing Safety in M&A: An Evolution, Not Revolution
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