Arun K. Singh currently holds the role of global CEO and president at Ilantus Services, a leading provider of identity-centric cybersecurity solutions. He also serves as the CEO of Network Intelligence, a digital security company in the Americas region. In addition to these positions, Arun is an advisory board member for several organizations and a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
Prior to his current roles, Arun worked as a partner and Americas Risk Advisory Leader at Ernst & Young LLP. He also held the position of Managing Director and Global Leader for the Managed Security Services business at Accenture LLP, as well as the role of Global Business Head for Enterprise Security Services at Wipro Technologies. Earlier in his career, he had successful tenures at Infosys Technologies and HCL Technologies.
Arun’s professional journey began as a cryptographer and has since evolved into spearheading cybersecurity ventures. He is a renowned speaker and has participated in distinguished forums, including ISMG CISO/CEO panels, USICoC, Forbes Technology Council, RSA Conference, and Gartner Security Summit.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Arun K. Singh and Fortunes Time:
What was your vision to join the company?
I am fortunate to have worked at some of the best organizations in the world, which helped me not only sharpen my cybersecurity skills but also internalize best practices for managing client relations, diverse teams, and driving cultural values.
After working for multiple large organizations for more than two decades, I was looking for the next level of challenge in my career. My vision was to start my own company or join a company as a top leader to create an environment that makes the world’s best cyber professionals want to work for us and customers want to do business with us. Ilantus has been in the cybersecurity industry for the past two decades and was rightly positioned to provide me with this platform. I joined Ilantus Technologies as the global CEO and board member in 2020. Ilantus is a global cybersecurity company with a focus on the identity and access management domain to offer products and services to its customers globally, including Fortune 500 companies.
I built a transformation roadmap for Ilantus Technologies that enabled growth mindsets for everyone in the company. Ilantus products got listed in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, and professional services received several recognitions from leading cybersecurity groups. For the accelerated growth of the Ilantus business, we decided to separate out the product business as a new company, and the Ilantus brand (www.ilantus.com) was retained for professional services in the identity and access management domain.
Later, the Ilantus Services business was acquired by Network Intelligence (niiconsulting.com) in February 2023. Network Intelligence is one of the top cybersecurity service providers in the USA, Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, the Netherlands, and India. It is fully backed by a US-based investment firm with an aspiration to become one of the top 10 cybersecurity companies in the world.
For me, it was an enriching experience to lead the entire exit process for Ilantus Services, from the investor pitch to due diligence to finalizing the agreements and completing the merger process.
What are the services that your company specializes in?
Ilantus, combined with network intelligence, offers end-to-end cybersecurity capabilities to clients. We have built productized service offerings supported by unique solution accelerators to ensure predictive outcomes. We also have a dedicated division for service quality audits, which works with each client engagement as an independent entity and presents an unbiased report to senior management.
Our unique delivery approach includes setting up a robust foundation with key critical systems in cloud or on premise. Once the foundation is tested for high availability and peak load, we bring in our “Factory Model” to enable security control for rest of the environment. This enables sustainability and helps us to scale up the rapid deployment of cybersecurity controls.
Describe company’s culture and values?
People-first strategy and client-centricity have been the key pillars of our long-standing success. People first strategy helped us maximize the retention ratio and build a long-term winning team. Many of our key employees stayed with the company for more than 15 years. Client-centric culture enabled us to develop multiple solution accelerators, which not only reduced the time to deploy cyber solutions faster but also cut down costs significantly.
We utilize many vehicles to stay in close contact with each team member and keep them motivated. Community meetings, town hall, cultural events, inter-team competitions, and weekly connections with reportees play a significant role in this. We have also aligned our incentive program with performance objectives, and the quarterly appraisal cycles help in taking care of critical or top-performing employees. The right attitude for collaboration is the key value that we drive through each employee, which makes them unique.
Will you highlight your role and areas of focus?
As the CEO of the company, my key responsibilities are to set the right direction for innovation and growth. My regular day at work goes through leading a global team to drive sales, marketing, service delivery, operations, research & development, innovation, analyst relations, and investor relations management. My recent focus has been to reshape our global business by creating a winning culture with teams that believe in a growth vision, thrive together, beat competition, delight customers, and deliver profitable growth. I am fostering change in the company culture to be more open, transparent, accountable, and client-focused to achieve accelerated growth targets.
Are there strong opportunities for emerging leaders to grow and lead in the industry?
Yes, there are plenty of opportunities for emerging leaders in the current market situation. With innovation and disruption, organizations are facing increasing pressure to adopt cutting-edge technologies and stay ahead of the curve. In order to provide better client services, organizations are using technologies such as RPA, ChatBot, NLP, virtual reality, AI, ML, big data, predictive analytics, IoT, 5G, wearables, geo-fencing, Beacons, cloud computing, EDGE, FOG computing, etc. Each of these new technologies creates a big business opportunity for each of us to address end-to-end cybersecurity needs covering IT, OT, cloud, and on-premise environments.
What are your views on the future of work and the importance for employees to be in an office to collaborate and maintain company culture?
The future of work is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by technological advancements and changing attitudes towards work-life balance. While the traditional office setup has been a cornerstone of corporate culture and collaboration, the importance of physical presence in an office is evolving.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote work, proving that many tasks can be performed effectively from remote locations. This shift has led to a re-evaluation of the necessity for employees to be in an office to collaborate and maintain company culture.
What advice do you offer to people beginning at their careers?
I would like to advise them regarding the importance of emotional quotient (EQ) and the ability to understand, empathize with, and connect with the people around them. By cultivating emotional intelligence, individuals at the beginning of their careers can enhance their leadership skills, foster teamwork, and create a more harmonious and productive work environment, which is pivotal for personal and professional growth. It enables individuals to navigate interpersonal relationships and lead with empathy and effectiveness.
