SIA New Member Profile: The Sage Group

New Security Industry Association (SIA) member The Sage Group is a value transformation consultancy that works closely with leaders and their teams to ensure they are strategically positioned and operationally capable to meet the window of opportunity. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and its The Great Conversation series now includes leaders from all over the world.

SIA spoke with Ron Worman, CEO of The Sage Group, about the company, the security industry and working with SIA.

Tell us the story of your company.

RW: I began my career in the 1980s working for McDonnell Douglas Automation (McAuto). The founder had started this division as a way to profit from the expertise developed in leveraging the early days of computing. Like Bezos, 40 years later, McAuto offered its hardware and software infrastructure as a managed service to companies that lacked the money, resources and knowledge to do it on their own. McAuto employees like myself were taught to study how leaders deployed people in roles within a measurable process using tools and find a way to leverage technology to optimize their actions. I would spend the next 20 years with McAuto,and three startup companies using this same approach to create valuable customers.

In 2002 I started The Sage Group to leverage my experience and knowledge to advise CEOs and their teams on how to create a path to value. After 9/11, I had a CEO, who happened to be in the physical security industry, ask me to evaluate his company and the industry and help him determine his path to value. As a result of that research I wrote a “manifesto” that would undergird a strategic plan. I wanted to sustain that research, so I launched The Great Conversation in Security to help chief security officers (CSOs) and their vendor ecosystems become more valuable in serving the needs of their customers. I would expand The Great Conversation to leaders from all industries in 2020 and record those conversations in a podcast format in 2021.

What solutions/services does your business offer in the security industry? And what makes your offerings/company unique?

RW: To the entire community, I offer leadership and technology insights through The Great Conversation. These conversations are unscripted and offer insights you would rarely glean anywhere else.

To CSOs and their teams, I provide leadership advisory and training as well as research on vendor capabilities.

To technology vendors, I provide my insights on trends in the industry and my path to value methodology. At the request of my CSO clients, I provide insights on how to have a truly valuable conversation with business leaders.

To service providers and integrators, I offer my insights into their business models, their suites of technology applications and their value propositions.

As for consultants, since I am a consultant, but not a security consultant, I offer them insights into how to approach their clients and the vendor ecosystem.

What is something we might not know about your company – or something new you are doing in security?

RW: In February 2020, I introduced an organizational psychologist who had not been exposed to the security industry in The Great Conversation. I did so because I realized that our leaders had been focused on organizational resilience, but not on personal resilience. Can you imagine the timing? This professor is now leading an organization dedicated to whole and intentional leadership development and has been holding a free virtual forum on Fridays that many of our leaders have been attending.

What is your company’s vision, and what are your goals for the security industry?

RW: The vision for The Sage Group has always been around helping leaders create a personal, professional and organizational path to value. I hope and pray that our Great Conversation has spurred this in the security industry.

What do you think are the biggest opportunities in the security industry right now?

RW: There were many elements in play that have accelerated the inflection point that many of us knew would eventually occur in the physical security industry and will lead to extraordinary value for those who seize it:

• The “convergence” of risk disciplines between cyber, operational and physical security. In the consumer world we would say that is the smart home. In the commercial world we would say that is the smart building, campus or building, and eventually cities and states.
• The realization that security technology cannot be deployed and maintained like it was when we only had a lock on a door. We still have CSOs and purchasing agents treating this technology acquisition through an architect and general contractor – this will not and cannot continue. Lowest price should not dictate your standards around your critical assets.
• The sensor-driven world is driving us toward more efficient means to integrate disparate data between systems and applications.
• With this integration will come the acceleration of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
• The pandemic has underlined what HR directors have known all along: sickness is a drag on performance. If this is true, a wellness program alone will not cut it. Sickness is now a breach of security. It can take down a workforce quickly. Begin thinking about identity as a service.
• Work from home was trending before the pandemic. But I see no approaches to covering the physical security and cybersecurity in the employee’s home by leveraging corporate security – this could become a serious problem down the road, and it represents a serious opportunity for a managed services vendor who can do both.
• Vendors must find a way to offer a service that can be paid monthly that covers most of the infrastructure, resources, upgrades and maintenance I would need to stand up a security program. And please, do not call this leasing.

What are the biggest challenges facing your company and/or others in the security industry?

RW: After 40+ years in business, you begin to acknowledge that most people are afraid to take risks, and yet managing the intersection of risk and opportunity is key to taking advantage of any period in any market around the globe. Now more than ever, we need leaders who are willing to challenge the existing ways we define roles in our processes using technology. We need to consistently be looking for exponential returns on our investments.

Our challenge at The Great Conversation is to encourage this thoughtful dialogue in a responsible way to change our collective path to value.

What do you enjoy most about being at your company – and in the security industry?

RW: I am a voracious reader, an incessant learner and fascinated at how ideas shape markets and change the world. I also know that the industry’s role in securing the safety of our people will play a larger and larger role in the affairs of our nation and the world. What a great time to be a part of events that will shape our history!

What does SIA offer that is most important to you/your company? And what do you most hope to get out of your membership with SIA?

RW: I was encouraged to join SIA because I had a mission to help the entire ecosystem, and many of my clients urged me to get involved because of the interconnectedness of the companies in the association. I would like to look back a year or two down the road and believe I helped start or accelerate many of the conversations that helped the industry prosper and grow.

How does your organization engage with SIA? what are your plans for involvement in the next year?

RW: I am currently on a committee studying intelligent communication and its future role in business and security. I am excited by this, since I know that voice is already emerging as the user interface of choice for our mobile phones, cars and homes.

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts and/or profiles are those of the authors or sources and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Security Industry Association.