Mitel is a global leader in business communications. It provides more than 70 million users in over 100 countries with advanced communication, collaboration, and contact center solutions. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Mitel CISO Bill Dunnion to learn more about the company.
Bill Dunnion’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Dunnion said:
“I am not sure there is a ‘typical path’ to becoming a CISO, but if there is, I probably didn’t take it. I started my career in telecommunications, working in marketing, product management, and sales with Nortel and Mitel. With the conversion to VoIP, I got introduced to IT and IT security, but those early roles gave me invaluable insights into business needs and company priorities. I also spent time running a cyber practice and delivery services for a series of startups, which has given me invaluable insight into project delivery and operational needs of different companies. I leverage all of this background in my role as CISO at Mitel.”
“My team’s primary responsibilities are to run, improve, and manage Mitel’s corporate information security program, which includes security compliance, policies and procedures, and technical security controls. Our team’s primary objective is to expand the ISO program that came with last year’s Unify acquisition, merge it with Mitel’s security program, and maintain our certification throughout our next round of audits.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Dunnion reflected:
“The people! I have people on my team who have worked here at Mitel for over 30 years. Their knowledge, history, context, and expertise are truly amazing! We also have members from the recently acquired Unify. Everyone is very unassuming, open-minded, and willing to work together.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Dunnion explained:
“Mitel is a global leader in business communications. We provide business communications, collaboration, meeting, and contact center software and devices to organizations around the world.”
“How organizations communicate with their teams and customers is so important, no matter the sector or industry. It’s really at the core of their success. So, Mitel solutions are the foundation for that—communications that work reliably and effortlessly so customers can focus on excelling at what they do. “
“For example, we work with hospitals, governments, police forces, schools, banks, and more—all of whom do important work every day. We like to think of Mitel technologies as powering those connections that power the world.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Dunnion and the team face in building the company? Dunnion acknowledged:
“Challenges are constant in the security space. We are always balancing our mandate to reduce risk to the organization with the constraints we face on resources and technology. We attempt to take a business-focused and risk-based approach to prioritizing demands on our team.”
Significant Milestones
What has been your most significant milestone with the company, so far? Dunnion cited:
“One of the most notable milestones for our team came within my first month on the job. We had only just closed on the Unify acquisition six months earlier, but the team was able to pass several ISO surveillance audits. That is quite significant, especially when you are bringing together two security organizations with different cultures and ways of managing security and compliance. It was a great way to start my second stint at Mitel.”
Career Success
Can you share any specific career success that you are proud of? Dunnion emphasized:
“There are a couple of career successes that have stuck with me. The first was at 2Keys, a small security consulting and integration firm. We won a government-managed service contract to provide the sign-in (username and password portal) for citizen-facing government applications. I led the RFP response, ran the delivery team, and then ran operations of the managed service. The service was delivered in 6 months, and production was live in less than 12. After 2 years, it was supporting over 7 million user accounts.”
“The next highlight was at Calian, where I led the cybersecurity practice. The practice grew from $4.5 million to over $40 million in revenue in 5 years, including 3 acquisitions. These were remarkable experiences that I will leverage for the rest of my career.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Dunnion noted:
“I think it is our focus on delivering those trusted, secure communications solutions organizations need, while also adding convenient, innovative features that suit the way modern businesses work.”
“Workplace change and complexity are accelerating faster than ever before, but it’s hard and expensive for customers to evolve large tech infrastructures at the same rate. That’s where Mitel’s flexibility comes in—we can help them adapt their comms tech to keep up with the changes they’re experiencing.”
“This could be through integrations with other technologies and software that they already use or by finding the right path to the cloud. For example, we offer communications systems that can run on-site at a customer location, in the cloud or even a combination of both, a “hybrid” model, in order to fit each organization’s needs.”
“Our mantra really is that ‘one size doesn’t fit all,’ so whether you are working in regulated industries like finance and healthcare or hospitality and retail, we allow the customer to maintain the security and control they need and offer the modern capabilities people expect.”
Future Goals
What are some of your goals moving forward? Dunnion concluded:
“My goals for the Information Security team are quite simple. We need to maintain our standards of compliance with ISO, SOC2, and others based on client demand. We also need to mature our security operations capabilities. The more automated you can make a process, the more efficient and cost-effective it can be. We need to be able to benchmark our progress and maturity to ensure that our cyber program is moving in the right direction.”
