To commemorate F-Secure’s 30th year of innovation, we’re profiling 30 of our fellows from our more than 25 offices around the globe.
The global village can be a pretty great place to live. But it can still be a challenge working across distances or boundaries – whether they be cultural, logistical, linguistic, or whatever else. But it’s a challenge that F-Secure’s Jani Kallio has taken since he joined the company with F-Secure’s acquisition of cyber security firm nSense in 2015.
“At nSense I started building our Security & Risk Management consulting practice as the Global Practice Leader. But during the 2 years since we joined F-Secure, I left that responsibility and my great team of 15 consultants, and transitioned to a business development role,” explains Jani. “Now, one of my key tasks is to prepare expansion opportunities for our consulting business through M&A.”
And Jani’s favorite part of this is finding common ground between different people – what he calls “a common language”. It’s something he’s been doing while based in London, since F-Secure acquired Digital Assurance Consulting – a small but reputable penetration testing company . Part of that process was his relocation to the city with his wife and daughter in summer 2017.
It’s a skill Jani uses to help F-Secure consulting expand further. “The best part of my job is when I’m able to identify similarities in cultures and untapped potentials which we could address together for mutual benefit,” said Jani. “When trying to motivate entrepreneurs into selling their company, it’s all about people. I need to sell the idea of F-Secure as a new home. It’s actually kind a match making process and it doesn’t work if you are not able to sell a joint vision.”
The cyber security business is still all about security, and you have to know what it means to customers, but Jani thinks it might surprise some people how differently that is seen across industries.
“In a single day, I can be in talks about the technical details of a security vulnerability with a consultant, discounted cash flow variables with a M&A advisor, business strategies with a senior entrepreneur, and coverage of cyber insurance with a broker or underwriter. It is a privilege, really, to be involved in so many different fields with different people.”
In terms of career advice, Jani has a few suggestions on how people could progress in the cyber security business.
“Choose a team who you can learn from, preferably strong in other areas than your own background. Choose a boss who believes in you. Share what you know with the people around you. And never stop learning, because this world will never slow down to wait for you to catch up.“
And if you’re looking for a career that will take you to different countries, remember to find things you have in common with the people around you, because there are bound to be differences. Some of them are really small, an example Jani discovered from working in London.
“Londoners have lunch over their keyboards and eat a good 2 hours later than I’m used to. Most restaurants do not even serve proper lunch before 12:00 in Soho, which is one thing I’m still getting used to.”
After Jani’s interview, F-Secure announced the acquisition of MWR InfoSecurity, a privately held cyber security company with close to 400 employees and operating globally from its HQ in London and other offices in the UK, the US, South Africa and Singapore.
And check out our open positions if you want to join Jani and the hundreds of other great fellows fighting to keep internet users safe from online threats.
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