Partner Perspectives: Q&A with Larry Akinsooto of JDL Group

In our recent webinar with JDL group, we discussed how the IT solutions provider built its proprietary “Out-of-the-News” compliance program, which pulls together multiple standard frameworks to apply to diverse organizations.

We recently sat down with Larry Akinsooto, executive vice president of sales and IT operations at JDL Group, for a brief Q&A to learn more about the company, its approach, and what’s ahead for JDL Group and the industry.

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‍1. What does JDL Group do? What is your role?

JDL Group is an IT solutions provider specializing in services for medium to large enterprises, particularly those with 50 to 2,000 employees. I serve as executive vice president of sales and IT operations.  

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2. What solutions/services does JDL Group offer? 

The company focuses on three primary areas: Wireless Services, Managed Security Services, and Continuous Compliance.  

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3. Do you specialize in any specific areas (industries, services, frameworks, etc.)? 

We serve multiple industries, including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, education, and more through our wireless offering. And this year, we introduced Managed Security and Continuous Compliance offerings as part of our MSSP services. But we don’t target any specific industries for our services.  

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4. What differentiates JDL Group from others in the space? How do you stand out?  

We stand out through our integration of continuous compliance management into our MSSP offerings. We provide expert guidance and support, a proactive approach, and an advanced tools stack, customizing our services to customer requirements and use cases. Our goal is to implement continuous culture improvement, delivered by combining our extensive expertise, strategic partnerships, and the latest technologies.

5. How do you stay ahead of a rapidly evolving threat landscape? 

We provide continuous training of our employees and ongoing evaluation of our technology stacks to ensure we stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape. Overlaying these efforts with our “out-of-the-news” compliance program ensures we are positioned to adapt to emerging threats.‍

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6. How do you scale your services to accommodate a growing list of customers and regulatory requirements? 

It begins with a solid blueprint that serves as the base for our delivery services. Our “out-of-the-news” compliance offering provides us with a strong foundation to support our service delivery across diverse industries and organizations.   

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7. How do you bundle your security and compliance services (pricing, packaging, positioning, etc.)?  

We bundled our services into three main buckets. The first are our Core Services, which include compliance and full vulnerability assessments. Our Elite Services are made up of those Core Services plus AI-enabled Unified Defense SIEM, regulatory compliance – attested PCI DSS, security awareness training & management, and annual penetration testing. Finally, our Ultimate Services include all of those other services plus Extended Detection and Response (XDR).  

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8. How are you delivering your compliance services? Is it offered as a formalized compliance offering?

We deliver continuous compliance — not one-time compliance. This is offered as a formalized compliance program with multiple options for our clients.  

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9. Do you have a favorite compliance framework? Why?  

We created a proprietary compliance program called “out-of-the-news” that serves as a baseline framework that is applicable to diverse enterprise organizations. This program is a crosswork of multiple regulatory frameworks that ensure our customers have a mature security posture and are in good security standing irrespective of their industry. However, we are open to implementing any compliance framework as per customer requirements and use cases.  

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10. What are the most common gaps or pitfalls you see when it comes to cybersecurity and compliance management?  

I often see a lack of qualified internal resources to manage cybersecurity and compliance programs for mid-size enterprises. They often treat compliance as a “check-the-box” activity instead of as a continuous pursuit, and many lack comprehensive risk assessments as well as endpoint and SIEM management. Finally, many organizations make the mistake of underestimating third-party risks.  

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11. What are your thoughts on compliance as a growth area for JDL Group (and for other providers)? 

Compliance is an important part of our MSSP offerings and is embedded in all our services packages. We believe compliance is the blueprint for effective cybersecurity risk reduction and management.  

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12. What's your outlook for the provider space over the next several years? What does it mean for JDL Group? 

The cybersecurity provider space is getting crowded as more firms enter the space and with the proliferation of cybersecurity tools. This put a lot of pressure on MSSPs to differentiate themselves, and continuous compliance management provides a significant way to do that.  

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13. Are you seeing increased financial pressure within the industry? If so, what does it mean for providers, specifically regarding the need to meet revenue goals? 

Proliferation of MSSPs and competition between them are leading to increased price pressure on services delivery. This race to the bottom situation is a challenge for MSSPs. Continuous compliance management provides MSSP with opportunities to differentiate themselves and reduce the cost of services delivery.  

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14. Why did you decide to partner with Apptega?

Apptega has a compelling go-to-market strategy that we believe is a crucial step for success for MSSPs that are interested in compliance management.  

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15. What challenges are you trying to solve? How are you using the Apptega platform? Why is it important?

We use Apptega to maintainin continuous compliance for our customers. It helps us articulate big picture security posture and actionable insights to clients. And the Apptega platform automates and integrates our compliance tasks, saving time and reducing errors. It has enabled proactive compliance through real-time monitoring, collaboration across teams, evidence management, and facilitating audit preparedness, with a comprehensive dashboard showing the cybersecurity posture of any organization we work with.  

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16. What has been your experience working with Apptega?

The Apptega platform’s ability to simplify processes, provide actionable insights, and ensure continuous improvement has made it a key part of our compliance offering. The support from Apptega’s team and their partner enablement process provides us with the opportunity to compete in the crowded MSSP marketplace. It is refreshing to know that we have a partner that we can trust and rely on as we go to market and compete in the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape.

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Watch our recent webinar with JDL group to learn more about how the company built its proprietary compliance program.

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