New Endgamer, Ian McShane, sat down with us to answer a few questions about what led him here. Our discussion explored UX in security, avoiding the ‘one size fits all’ model, and what's next for him as our VP of Product Marketing.
Tell us about your new role
Ian: I’ve been passionate about building and shipping great products for over a decade, and I’ve become especially interested in delivering the best user experience possible for security admins of all experience levels. I know firsthand from my practitioner days that the day-to-day UX can make or break a platform - and the person using it! At Endgame, I’m looking forward to helping organizations identify, understand, and solve their biggest endpoint security problems in a way that’s right for them.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today?
Ian: A lot has already been said about some of the most common organizational challenges - struggles with basic security principles like patch and vulnerability management, authentication and account protection, and system hardening. But one of the biggest challenges for a CISO or IT leader is the sheer scale of products and solutions available across the infosec industry. With so much work and so little time, many organizations have fallen for the “one size fits all” promises of vendors that offer products and solutions appearing - at first glance - to solve many problems with little to no configuration or ongoing administration.
The reality is that each and every organization has its own unique requirements and unique ways of working that make “one size fits all” almost impossible. Moreover, it’s important to understand what skills and capabilities an organization has available to dedicate to new technologies and new processes. Discovering six months into a multi-year subscription that the product requires far more hands-on work than initially expected, or needs additional subscriptions or products to fully achieve value, is an expensive realization and one that can be very difficult to recover from.
What do customers struggle with in relation to security?
Ian: Until a few years ago the biggest issues always seemed to be budget related, but with more organizations realizing that they need to proactively invest in security, the real struggle has become staffing their security teams with experienced analysts. Back to what I said earlier, I’m passionate about the security admin user experience, and how vendors can improve a security administrator’s day-to-day work process has already become a key differentiator in a saturated market.
Why did you choose Endgame?
Ian: There’s so much to be excited about at Endgame, but the things that are important to me are people, culture, and obviously technology. Every person I met at Endgame was smart and engaging, and it was quickly evident that the company is passionate about the things that I find important - for example, a commitment to transparency, to investing in initiatives that help give back to our industry, and to help it grow through diversity and technical excellence.
On the product side, we’re one of the few vendors that are really making a difference in the quality of life for security admins by providing advanced capabilities in ways that are easy to consume and that, frankly, work at a ridiculous scale.
Ian recently joined Endgame as Vice President of Product Marketing. He formerly led the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms as a security and risk management analyst
Article Link: https://www.endgame.com/blog/executive-blog/spotlight-interview-ian-mcshane