Introducing New HSD Premium Partner: Legian

Legian recently became premium partner of Security Delta (HSD). You might know this consultancy firm as an ICT knowledge partner with a long history. To get to know this new partner better we sat down with Dick Hoogendoorn (CTO) and Nandenie Moenielal (Lead Consultancy & Business Development). We asked them about their ambitions for the coming years, what sets Legian apart from other organisations, and what it’s like to be independent without commercial ties to resellers.

Could you describe your activities in the field of security?

“We are a knowledge partner, and that means we can offer high-quality IT knowledge to businesses and organisations”, Dick explains. “As a partner we are looking to assist our clients on strategic, tactical, and operational level.” What sets Legian apart in this field is its independence, Nandenie adds. “Many similar businesses that have commercial links to resellers or big parties. We have no such ties, so we can recommend or implement a solution that fits our clients' needs.”

“We have evolved a lot over the years”, Dick describes. “We started in 1996 and started as a independent networkinfrastructure consultancy agency. After a year or ten we started changing as a company to adapt to the market. As a result, we are much broader as of around 2016. Aside from focusing purely on the technological side, we started doing many different things that our customers needed and ask for.”

One of the topics that was garnering greater attention during this time was cybersecurity. “We were already involved in the technology behind cybersecurity, but not yet the organisational side. We started developing this further in 2019, when Nandenie also started. The last few years, we’ve done the same in terms of cloud, and we’ve made big steps in terms of business consultancy.”

What made you decide to become a premium partner of Security Delta (HSD)?

“We’ve been a partner long ago in the past”, Dick recounts, “but a lot has changed. The fact that HSD has evolved as well brought it back on our radar. The way you collaborate and exchange ideas is very interesting to us. We can’t do everything by ourselves, and we want to keep evolving.”

Another aspect of the partnership that adds value is the active account management, Nandenie adds. “We’ve had partnerships in the past where both parties take on a passive role, meaning nothing gets done. In this partnership we see an opportunity to really add value to the community, and where we see active participation by HSD to help us reach a bigger stage as well.”

Additionally, Legian sees opportunities in the programmes HSD has, Dick says. “We are seeing some interesting developments. We’ve heard about Cyber Resilience Centre Greenport that HSD launched in 2022, and we think there’s an opportunity for us to share our security knowledge and collaborate with them.”

Could you share with us what you see as the biggest challenge in security?

“At C-level there is still a lot of work to be done”, Nandenie replies. “The head of the organisation often doesn’t have security on top of mind. The only times this changes is when an incident occurs, at which point budget is made available for cybersecurity. This recurring situation is something we see as a big risk for the coming years.”

Nonetheless, Legian is optimistic. “We’re seeing a lot of new regulations to combat this”, Nandenie continues. “We’ve seen it with the GDPR, which put cybersecurity in the spotlight. Currently NIS2 is bringing a lot of positive change, and we are always happy to help our clients with that. But at the end of the day it’s about awareness at the top of the organisation.”

Collective awareness is something she considers key. “We shouldn’t just point at one person within the organisation and say: ‘You’re the CISO, so it’s up to you to solve this.’ However, ensuring your information protection and cybersecurity are up to par is a collective responsibility.”

Could you tell me what Legian’s ambitions are for the coming years?

“The easy answer would be to grow as a company”, Dick laughs, “but we want to do things right and value quality over quantity. Our activities, infrastructure, business consultancy, cloud and security are all interconnected, so we’re approaching things form a multidisciplinary angle. We want to help our clients take care of all four of those with the right people.”

“That’s one of our main goals for the coming years”, Nandenie adds. “Being able to offer multidisciplinary solutions to our clients concerns, where they receive advice on the technology used as well as how to utilise it properly, without having to consult several different companies. I think that’s our strength and is what sets us apart from similar solution providers.”