TRANSFORM

Turning Around Nine Years of Underperformance: An APAC Leadership Transformation for a European Cybersecurity Company

TechFuture placed APAC leadership for a European cybersecurity company after nine years of underperformance and nine months of unsuccessful internal recruitment. The region went from break-even in year one to 150% of sales target and top-performing region by year three.

CUSTOMER

European Cybersecurity Company

INDUSTRY

Cyber Security

REGION

APAC

CLIENT HQ

Client Background

A prominent European cybersecurity company had been operating in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region for nine years but struggled to achieve profitability. Despite having a strong global presence, the APAC division was underperforming and had yet to break even, which prompted the company to seek a change in leadership for the region.

Challenge

The company needed a new regional leader who could address multiple challenges:

P&L Management: The new leader had to possess strong financial acumen to manage the region’s profit and loss.

Market Insight: There was a pressing need for the leader to bridge the gap between HQ and the APAC market, providing critical insights to ensure strategies were locally relevant.

Legacy Team Management: The leader had to work with an existing team that had been underperforming and required revitalization.

Competitive Edge: The cybersecurity market in APAC is fiercely competitive, necessitating a leader capable of driving growth and gaining market share.

After nine months of unsuccessful attempts to fill the position through internal talent acquisition and referrals, the company sought our expertise to find the right candidate.

Solution

We conducted a rigorous diagnosis of the role’s requirements, engaging with various stakeholders across the company to gain a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities.

This involved:

Stakeholder Interviews: We spoke with key figures at both HQ and within the APAC region to understand the company’s culture, competitive advantages, and the specific needs for this leadership role.

Market Mapping: A thorough search process was conducted, identifying candidates with proven experience in P&L management, market expansion, and team revitalization within the cybersecurity sector.

Cultural Fit: Special attention was given to finding a leader who could navigate the company’s existing culture while implementing necessary changes to improve performance.

Within two months, we successfully identified and placed a regional leader with the right mix of experience, cultural fit, and strategic vision.

Result

The new regional leader had an immediate impact:

Year 1: The APAC division broke even by the end of the first year, reversing nearly a decade of financial struggles.

Year 2: The leader began scaling up the team, laying the foundation for future growth.

Year 3: APAC became the company’s leading region for new customer acquisitions, achieving 150% of the sales target and outpacing other regions globally.

Business Value

The strategic hire not only stabilized the APAC division but also turned it into a key driver of global growth.

The company’s ability to win new logos and exceed sales targets in such a competitive market demonstrated the effectiveness of the new leadership and the importance of a thorough, well-executed executive search process

She really made a strong effort to understand not just the profile of the candidate we were looking to find but also the context of our company so she could shortlist the best possible candidates.

I engaged Alice An from TechFuture Search to fill a strategic position on my team as Regional General Manager. Prior to engaging Alice we were not able to find suitable candidates though our internal Talent Management team, thus we decided to engage a boutique search firm that was known to be able to find candidates within the talent scarce part of the technology industry. Alice did a great job of understanding the profile of the leader we were looking for as well as the context and culture of our company so she had a good idea of the type of candidate that would fit our requirements. She proved to have a strong network of people in our industry and were able within a short time to shortlist a number of candidates that fit the profile of leaders we were looking for - which enabled us to review several candidates much faster than we otherwise would have been able to do via our internal talent management team. We subsequently closed a contract with our favourite candidate for which Alice provided superb guidance both to our company and the candidate to make this a win-win for both parties. She also kept in contact with both me as a hiring manager and the candidate following the placement to understand how the hiring turned out from both parties. I can only recommend TechFuture Search and Alice for any search requirements you might have in your company.

European Cybersecurity Company

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