Cybersecurity firm Ensign InfoSecurity sets its sights on regional market for growth
Singapore
THE regional market in managed security services will be key to expansion at Ensign InfoSecurity, according to chief executive Tammie Tham.
That's as she expects the pure-play cybersecurity provider - a joint venture between mainboard-listed StarHub and national investment firm Temasek Holdings - to continue posting double-digit revenue growth on surging industry demand.
Shrugging off any hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Tham doubled down on prioritising Singapore, Asean and the Asia-Pacific for growth, and told The Business Times "we have enough on our plate to keep us very, very busy" in these markets.
Ensign was set up in 2018 through a merger of StarHub's Cyber Security Centre of Excellence; its subsidiary Accel Systems & Technologies, bought in 2017; and Temasek-owned Quann. It later folded in cryptographic technology company D'Crypt, which StarHub also acquired in 2017.
Ms Tham joined Ensign from Accel, where she had been founder and CEO. She was promoted from her role as Ensign's executive vice-president for enterprise, to its CEO in 2019 - taking over from interim CEO Yeoh Keat Chuan of Temasek International.
"I've been doing cybersecurity for the past 20 years. When I started, it wasn't so vibrant - we (would) sell security based on fear. Well, today, we're still doing that.
"But, today, cybersecurity is definitely a business enabler, more than just about risk mitigation and management," she told BT, citing increasing digital maturity as a growth driver.
Clients are now more knowledgeable, she said.
Ensign's global headquarters are in Singapore, where the company also launched a security operations centre in 2019. On top of that, it has offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia and South Korea, as well as a client base in Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand.
Therefore, Ms Tham expects business to be driven by demand for managed security services - which she dubbed "a key growth engine for us" in the coming years - as well as the rise of cloud adoption and digital transformation across all industries.
Besides firms preferring to outsource their increasingly complex cybersecurity needs, she also sees a market in helping clients to audit their technology vendors.
Yet, when asked about competition from other companies - such as Singtel's regional enterprise arm, NCS - Ms Tham argued that Ensign has an advantage from its pure-play focus.
She conceded that "you would see a lot of suppliers jumping onto the cybersecurity bandwagon", as the demand for cybersecurity services has outpaced supply in the market.
"But I really don't see myself competing head-on with them, because when we started, we were very clear about one thing and that is differentiation...
"My competitors are not just doing cybersecurity; they are doing a lot of other things, including applications, networks, systems, and so on. But for us, it's pure-play cybersecurity."
Although Ensign is a privately held company, StarHub reported that its cybersecurity segment had revenue of S$226.7 million in 2020, up by 53.5 per cent from S$147.7 million in the year before. Meanwhile, cybersecurity earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) rose to S$29.2 million in 2020, from a loss of S$3.2 million previously.
StarHub posted cybersecurity revenue of S$42.5 million for the three months to March 31, 2021, down by 32 per cent year on year on project delays that led to operating losses.
Still, Ms Tham called the growth "a very steady and sustainable pace in the past two years", complete with "the same healthy trajectory" in order book, where she cited "very healthy and steady growth in our pipeline".
Even now, she remains confident of maintaining this momentum for the next few years: "We didn't start from a very low base because we didn't start the company from scratch, it was the consolidation of a few entities... and to grow from a large base, and getting double-digit growth, it's definitely telling us that we're doing things correctly."
On the company's appetite for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), though, she is keeping her options open.
Ensign has received overtures and "we do look at everyone that comes our way - but so far we are not even close to nailing anything", Ms Tham told BT. She stressed that "it's not just about buying something" for immediate business growth, which she finds a less sustainable approach.
At the same time, Ms Tham touted shareholders' support of a very long-term perspective at Ensign, especially given how research and development could take three to five years.
Rejecting "a shareholder who's breathing down my neck on a quarterly basis", she added: "They know that certain things need time to translate, and that is important."
Ms Tham also cited synergies with StarHub, especially in the run-up to "the onslaught of 5G" as Singapore rolls out networks from this year on.
"Very soon, we're going to have our own 5G infrastructure, and cybersecurity is going to be so key in the 5G realm," she told BT. "It works for us, that we have got a shareholder who's also a telco, who can provide the environment as well as the platform for us to build our capabilities."
