Security operations market trends indicate significant growth and innovation in cybersecurity solutions.

The conversation at the RSA Conference 2024 focused on trends in artificial intelligence, platformization, market convergence, company performance, IPOs and upcoming cybersecurity trends for customers and investors. Customers are looking for fewer tools and vendors to manage, leading to consolidation in the industry, according to Nick Schneider (pictured), president and chief executive officer of Arctic Wolf Networks Inc.

Arctic Wolf Networks’ Nick Schneider talks to theCUBE about security operations market trends.

“I think cybersecurity has evolved with a bunch of new threats, new attack surfaces and changes in the way in which bad actors are leveraging those potential avenues to attack,” Schneider said. “As a result of that, there’s been a myriad of different products that have been developed within the marketplace that have frankly been left up to the customer to manage and make use of…you’re seeing customers look to want to have a vendor that can help them to solve multiple attack surfaces or multiple outcomes within their security operation.”

Schneider spoke with theCUBE Research’s Dave Vellante at the RSA Conference, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed addressing the underserved security operations market and meeting customer demands for unified solutions. (* Disclosure below.)

Changes shaping the security operations market

On Arctic Wolf’s platform, customers can consolidate vendors and choose best-of-breed products for specific cyber-use cases, while a managed service platform operates across all attack surfaces and outcomes, Schneider explained.

“We’ve tried hard as a business to make sure that we continue to innovate on individual attack surfaces or new threats within the marketplace but also remain open and agnostic to customer choice so that as they work through this security journey, that they can make the determination for themselves, and we can help them in that journey over time,” he said.

The market segment for security operations is underserved, with a talent shortage and budget constraints, leading to a need for a solution. Arctic Wolf addresses the underserved security operations market with a focus on product market fit and go-to-market philosophy, according to Schneider.

“The change in the market, I think, was more noted,” he said. “We had more and more customers year-over-year saying, ‘Hey, I know we talked to you last year and we were saying we’re going to try to do this ourselves. How about maybe not?’ So, let’s talk about how you could feather into what we do and maybe help to augment, maybe help over time to be the cornerstone of what we do.”

Understanding the value proposition and meeting the specific needs of upmarket customers is crucial for winning deals and maintaining strong win rates. Good conversion rates vary based on the organization’s priorities, with larger customers sometimes requesting special treatment, Schneider explained.

“We’ve built what we call a data explorer product and we have a second version of that coming out, which answers that need,” he said. “That’s historically where we’ve seen the most tension upmarket. In the core of our markets, I would say it’s kind of the normal competitive dynamic.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of the RSA Conference:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the RSA Conference. Neither RSA Conference LLC, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE