Dear Mr. Grosche, how would you describe Fortinet in 3 quick-witted words?
Innovation culture, investment protection and industry leadership are what our customers and partners value about Fortinet and why they choose us.
Please introduce yourself briefly and tell us something about your background.
As Country Manager Germany, my objective is to facilitate Fortinet’s sustained growth in the German market. I assumed the role at the beginning of 2022. I have been with Fortinet since 2016, initially joining as Director of Channel Sales Germany. Before this, I held the position of Sales Director for Continental Europe at Intralinks. I have also gained experience in management roles at Symantec, EMC RSA and IBM.
What distinguishes Fortinet from other providers?
Fortinet is a unique combination of technological innovation, financial strength, and an unwavering commitment to security excellence. We pride ourselves on solid financial stability, ensuring that our customers and partners can rely on us for long-term growth and support. Our reliability is further reinforced by a large, well-established channel ecosystem and a dedicated team of long-term employees, from executive assistants to top management.
As the provider of the largest integrated cybersecurity offering available, we deliver a comprehensive and cohesive security solution that stands out in the market. Our technology leadership is underscored by FortiOS, our flagship operating system, which seamlessly integrates our products and services. This integration is further enhanced by our proprietary Security Processing Units (SPUs), purpose-built to deliver unparalleled performance and value, with security compute ratings far exceeding industry norms.
Our innovation is validated by strong industry recognition and thought leadership. With nearly three times as many patents as comparable vendors, we consistently push the boundaries of cybersecurity. Additionally, our FortiGuard Labs, a dedicated threat intelligence and research division, ensures that we remain at the forefront of the fight against cybercrime on a global scale.
We offer the broadest and deepest service portfolio, providing unique integration possibilities through the Fortinet ecosystem. This guarantees maximum investment protection for our customers. By combining cutting-edge AI/ML technology with our in-house processor development, we optimize performance and stay ahead of emerging threats.
Our active international role in combating cybercrime, coupled with innovation leadership powered by our financial strength and human capital, positions us as a trusted partner in securing the digital future.
How does Fortinet help other companies?
Fortinet helps organizations navigate the evolving cybersecurity landscape by addressing dynamic business needs through the Fortinet Security Fabric. This platform provides automated protection, detection, and response, along with unified visibility across Fortinet and 500+ third-party solutions. Its three key pillars are Secure Networking, Unified SASE, and AI-driven Security Operations. Organically built on a common management and security framework, the Fabric is the industry’s highest-performing and most expansive cybersecurity platform. FortiOS, Fortinet’s operating system, is the foundation of the Fortinet Security Fabric. FortiOS enables the convergence of security and networking to close security gaps and simplify management. With FortiOS, our customers can achieve consistent user experience, common security policies, and visibility and control across environments, including on-premises, cloud, hybrid, and converging IT/OT/IoT infrastructure.
What do you see differently from prevailing opinions in the field of cyber security?
For us at Fortinet, it’s about more than technical innovation. As a leader in cybersecurity, we see it as our duty to make the world a safer and more sustainable place. That’s why, in addition to our commitment to cybersecurity and innovation in network technology, we strive to
- Reduce the environmental footprint of our technology by ensuring that each generation of our products uses less energy, while promoting responsible behaviour throughout our value chain
- Addressing the global cybersecurity skills shortage by maintaining one of the largest and most comprehensive training programmes in the industry with a focus on talent diversification
- Promote collaboration in the fight against cybercrime through partnerships that help shape the future of cyber threat prevention and by sharing actionable threat intelligence between public and private organisations.
If you could send an email to all CISOs to address a security issue, what would you choose?
Cyber Risk is Business Risk
Cybersecurity has become a central topic of discussion for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and corporate leadership. It’s now widely understood that threats to IT systems directly impact the entire organization. Cyber incidents can disrupt operations, damage reputations, and harm financial stability, while also posing risks to critical infrastructures, the environment, and even human lives. Every employee plays a role in maintaining security, as mistakes like falling for phishing attacks, misconfiguring systems, or introducing vulnerable code can lead to breaches.
Given these challenges, it is more important than ever to align the board of directors with cybersecurity efforts. Cybersecurity isn’t just about avoiding potential disasters; it’s a comprehensive strategy that integrates both proactive and reactive security measures into a unified platform.
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