Tufin simplifies and automates the security policy management of some of the largest, most complex networks in the world, centralizing control across thousands of firewall and network devices and hybrid cloud infrastructures. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Tufin CEO Raymond Brancato to learn more about the company.
Raymond Brancato’s Background
What is Raymond Brancato’s background? Brancato said:
“I first joined Tufin in 2021 as the company’s Chief Revenue Officer, where I was responsible for overseeing our go-to-market sales and marketing operations. I was appointed CEO of the company in 2023. Before Tufin, I was the Chief Revenue Officer of AI platform company AnyVision (now Oosto) and before that, the General Manager of Business Unit Sales at CA Technologies.”
“As Tufin’s CEO, it has been my responsibility to lead the company’s post-public company phase since being acquired by Turn/River Capital in 2022. I focus on driving company-wide growth and profitability through investments in our technology, team, and go-to-market strategy, and by working to maximize our ability to help organizations struggling with the need to secure and manage today’s ever-evolving, increasingly complex hybrid networks.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Brancato reflected:
“This past January, our annual company meeting was particularly significant. In the wake of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, there was a lot of uncertainty about whether it was safe to travel to Israel. However, I was intent on being there with the local team and made the trip to Tel Aviv to host the meeting on-site at our office.”
“During such a turbulent time for our company – where employees and family members were called for mandatory military duty, worked alongside bomb sirens, and took leave – it was meaningful for all of us to connect face-to-face.”
“We were grateful to have a special guest keynote speaker, who delivered an inspiring presentation titled, ‘Vision, Meet Reality,’ which was all about moving forward with resiliency in business. Additionally, one of our team members took the time to accompany me to Hostage Square. As I visited the site of remembrance, I felt the profound impact the war has had on our employees’ lives, which was both heart-wrenching and a stark reminder of the resilience our team has embodied to move forward with such strength.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Brancato explained:
“Tufin provides a network security policy management platform capable of managing large, enterprise-scale hybrid-cloud networks, helping to bridge the security and process gap between network and cloud security teams. Our platform centralizes network access management and delivers continuous compliance automation from on-premise to the cloud to the edge. We give customers the ability to see and design network communication routes from internal networks to multiple cloud environments while also deploying any access changes.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Brancato and the team faced in building the company? Brancato acknowledged:
“As CEO, my focus has been on driving profitable and sustainable growth, strengthening relationships with our customers and partners, and fostering continuous innovation. While these goals can sometimes seem contradictory, I’m proud to say that in 2023, we made significant progress on all three fronts and turned the corner on profitability coming into 2024.”
“Tufin’s resilience has been evident in our commitment to operational excellence in every part of our business. We’ve embraced a weekly cadence of evaluating how we can get 1% better every week. By identifying gaps and seizing opportunities for improvement, we’re consistently moving forward, demonstrating our ability to overcome challenges and achieve results.”
Evolution Of Tufin’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Brancato noted:
“The technology industry is constantly changing. It simply no longer matters where or how a user accesses applications and information – they just need timely, fast access to those things in order to successfully do their jobs.”
“In the past, security was separated depending on types and locations of access. The corporate network stopped at the exit door of each building. Security tools were built to manage these parameters and maintain security inside the company’s four walls.”
“Tufin’s technology has evolved alongside the evolving needs of our customers. Corporate networks have become too complex; team members have too much to do in a given day, and these issues can lead to security and performance problems.”
“At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter whether your network is cloud, on-premise, hybrid, or whatever the future iteration may be. It all has to be secure, and teams need tools that enable them to consistently set, manage, and apply security policies, regardless of factors such as location or type of connection.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Brancato cited:
“We had gone public in 2019, and were then acquired and taken private in 2022 by Turn/River Capital, a leading technology growth private equity firm. Those significant milestones aside, I think the biggest one is yet to come. Tufin was founded in 2005, which means next year we’ll have been in business for twenty years. In the cybersecurity industry, that’s quite a milestone to reach. Tufin has continued to be a reliable, stable name that customers can rely upon for their cloud and network security needs – and the coming anniversary is the strongest evidence of our lasting success.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Brancato about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“As I’m sure you can understand, in the cybersecurity industry there are many happy, successful customer stories – but few that will allow the use of their names or exact details due to the nature of the story. That said, I’ll share a couple of examples with readers.”
“We recently shared the details of how the largest health insurer in Massachusetts, Blue Cross Blue Shield, used Tufin to manage security policies across their on-premise, SDN and public cloud environments with firewalls from multiple vendors. Between their own standards and industry regulations, there was a lot to coordinate and manage. We were able to help them easily identify any rules that violate compliance or business standards – as well as give them the visibility needed to proactively protect against new, risky requests. For specifics, I’d direct readers to: https://www.tufin.com/blue-cross-blue-shield-ma-case-study.”
“In addition, last year we took part in a Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact study which resulted in some excellent data on our customers’ success in using Tufin. For example, customers reported a 94% reduction in the effort needed to analyze and implement network changes, an 85% decrease in effort needed for ongoing rule maintenance, and a 95% improvement in audit response and reporting efficiency. To see the rest of the findings, check out: https://www.tufin.com/pr/tufin-forrester-total-economic-impact-study.”
Revenue
When asking Brancato about the company’s revenue details, he revealed:
“I can say that today we have worked with more than 2,900 customers, helping them simplify the daunting task of managing security policies across expansive hybrid networks.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Brancato assessed:
“Today’s IT and security teams need tools that are both easy-to-use and comprehensive. The growing complexity of networks – and their continued evolution to match employee demands – means that these tools must also be able to scale and evolve easily and quickly.”
“Tufin’s core business is built on the $10.1B network security market TAM – grounded in firewalls and rapidly expanding to newer technologies like SASE and the public cloud.”
“In addition, our acquisition of AKIPS provides another $2.3 billion TAM in network monitoring. The combination of Tufin and AKIPS gives IT and security teams improved end-to-end visibility, access to stronger, more actionable insights, and best-in-class automation. The timetable for discovery and resolution is accelerated in a cost-effective and easy-to-use way.”
“Tufin has been built for the present and future of the network security market – arming customers with what they need to automate tasks, accelerate changes, and maintain compliance while keeping the organization secure.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Brancato affirmed:
“We pride ourselves on making the lives of IT and security teams easier, by helping them improve their visibility, efficiency, and effectiveness. We believe that our unique combination of visibility and automation features surpass what the competition is able to provide.”
“Our topology mapping is known for being extremely comprehensive, meaning that compliance reporting is more accurate. Tufin’s scalability is also often cited by customers as a reason we were chosen over competing solutions. Some of our customers use Tufin to manage compliance and automate policies across networks that comprise over 10,000 devices and/or 200 million routes. We’ve proven we can grow as customers’ needs do.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Brancato pointed out:
“AI is obviously the biggest trend in the technology industry over the past two years. Every company – security or otherwise – has jumped in head-first, embracing its potential benefits.”
“That said, I believe that companies would be wise to take a slightly more measured approach with AI. While it can undoubtedly benefit organizations in certain areas, there are also areas where its full potential may not yet be realized and may take more time. Here at Tufin, we understand the future is finding responsible, valuable ways to incorporate AI into security, and we’ve started to do so.”
“We recently launched our first AI-powered solution, TufinMate. It helps IT and security teams to automate the network access enablement process across an organization. It allows a broad array of stakeholders, including those outside of traditional security roles, to ask connectivity questions using natural language, quickly giving them answers back. TufinMate can check if access is permitted, view traffic flows, identify issues, or open new access requests.”
“I believe that these areas are where AI can help right now – helping to minimize a process, improve and drive efficiency, or remove a time-consuming task such as answering access questions from a network professional. I look forward to finding additional ways to utilize AI to drive greater value for our customers.”
Additional Thoughts
Are there any other topics you would like to discuss? Brancato concluded:
“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish at Tufin, but I think our most exciting endeavors are yet to come. Our market and technology have increasingly become more critical to our customers, putting us in a great position to accelerate and expand our market growth.”
