Mr. Dohrendorf, please introduce yourself briefly and tell us something about your background.
My professional journey began with an apprenticeship as a communications electronics technician – technology and precise work were at the heart of it. I worked as a hardware programmer for ten years and learned how technology works at a fundamental level.
Over time, my focus shifted from development towards strategic consulting on digitalization. For ten years, I supported companies on their path to the digital future – first as a consultant, then as a team leader. This role was not only about technical solutions, but also about communication, change management, and team dynamics.
Today, I am responsible for the digital transformation on a larger scale as Division Head. The intelligence of suitable IT security has become a critical success factor. My focus is on developing teams, driving innovation, and successfully implementing complex digitalization projects – with a clear view of strategy, technology, and the people behind them.
Dear Mr. Dohrendorf, how would you describe Consist in 3 quick-witted words?
same wavelength, reliable, with experts
What makes collaboration with other companies special for you?
Our goal is to establish trust-based and long-term collaboration with our stakeholders. We rely on open communication and partnership-based exchange in order to achieve sustainable success together. We are delighted that customers and partner companies alike are no longer just focusing on short-term solutions, but are interested in a holistic approach to IT that is effective in the long term.
This does not rule out the use of new technologies. We enjoy testing new tools, which our IT consultants evaluate as changemakers on the market. For example, it’s great to see that a Big Data and security solution, which we were the first to champion in the Germany-Austria-Switzerland region a few years ago, has so successfully established itself on the market. It makes us genuinely happy when our enthusiasm for these technologies spreads to our customers.
What do you see differently from prevailing opinions in the field of cyber security?
In our view, a managed SOC can also work well with different SIEM systems. Ultimately, it’s about mastering the processes, understanding security, and properly handling and qualifying the individual incidents for the customers. For us, the quality and simplicity of the processes come first here, before selecting the tool for our customers.
If you could send an email to all CISOs to address a security issue, what would you choose?
The interlinking of the areas of application is becoming increasingly important, and therefore only a single source of truth for security can be optimal here. More specifically, this means that OT, IT, IoT, and the many other spectrums should be recorded, evaluated and assessed centrally. This is the only way to effectively detect and prevent attacks. We rely on bringing together the myriad of information and using every piece of information to ensure that there is no interruption in supply to your customers in future.
What steps are you taking to get there and how do you aim to support companies?
Of course, we have already laid many of the foundations, as we have been pursuing this vision for some time. In workshops, we adjust mutual expectations, provide the project team with the necessary information, and outline the target achievement process. From there, it’s on to the project, which we support with an experienced team.
This includes project management – both technical and organizational. Paired with probably the best Splunk consultants in the world, this creates a well-rounded project team. We are particularly proud of our many titles in Splunk’s global “Boss of the SOC” competition. Not just first place last year, for example, but always being among the top 4 companies in the world for almost a decade is a really great achievement. Added to this are the Trust Members selected by Splunk, the highest award at Splunk. This trust is now being extended even further under Cisco, where we have helped drive and develop a new solution for Cisco/Splunk in the area of sustainability.
Other technologies from Cisco/Splunk, sosafe, Tanium, and Crowdstrike complete the puzzle. We have adapted to the fact that, depending on their requirements, there are customers who need on-premises solutions as well as those who rely on the cloud. We are set up to accommodate all requirements.
What’s next – what’s on your technical roadmap, what are your plans for 2025 and beyond?
The areas of threat intelligence and OT security are currently part of a project in which we are expanding our security platform, training employees, and integrating this at our customers. In the area of OT, we are also ensuring that we focus on solutions which satisfy both on-premises and cloud customers.
Two markets that we have only recently entered are observability, and therefore the issue of security through stability, as well as awareness training to help companies continuously train their employees.
For us, the evaluation of the SASE/zero trust, IAM and privileged access markets will remain at the forefront of our roadmap towards the vision of a security consulting provider that supports companies with the adaptation and planning of their security strategy and security software landscape and operates these for them as SOC and IT OPs.
We act independently of manufacturers and confidently as one of the best providers worldwide.
We look forward to following this path with old and new customers alike.
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