Kroll, an international risk management consultancy firm headquartered in New York, has picked the Philippines to be its latest expansion site in the Asia Pacific region, officially opening the doors to its new office location in Makati, Metro Manila.
The new office will house Kroll’s cybersecurity operations center that will provide the company’s cyber resiliency services like penetration testing, cyber due diligence, virtual CISO, and data privacy advisories for organizations.
In the global scenes, however, Kroll’s business spans across several verticals. Aside from cyber risk, the company also deals with the valuation of businesses, end-to-end governance of an organization’s compliance and regulatory risks, as well as financing and restructuring.
“We anticipate growth here in terms of the other parts of the business, but for now, we are focusing on developing the cyber business because we see that the Philippines is underserved by high quality cybersecurity capabilities and companies with a global kind of perspective,” Paul Jackson, regional managing director and Asia Pacific leader for Kroll’s Cyber Risk practice, said during an exclusive interview with Newsbytes PH.
Initially, Kroll will be focusing on the area of managed detection and response (MDR) solution delivery to Philippine customers and growing the capabilities of their local analysts through specialized upskilling programs.
Jackson sees security testing and monitoring as Kroll’s largest potential for growth in the country, noting that many companies in the Philippines are still unable to monitor their security architecture effectively.
Back in Q4 2021, Kroll’s acquisition of cybersecurity solutions and advisory services provider Security Compass Advisory expanded the company’s capabilities in cloud security while the more recent acquisition of real-time risk intelligence company Crisp accelerated its ability to provide customers with actionable risk intelligence.
“We try to cover all angles for our clients and one of the biggest drivers is actually understanding the risks and threats that are out there. We are really growing our intelligence and research capabilities to help clients get a good understanding of what risks exist,” he added.
Kroll is setting its sights to reach as many clients as possible in the Philippines which is why it is currently engaged on building its brand, growing the market’s awareness, and tracking the right people. Aside from Philippine-based clients, Kroll’s local security operations center will also support its international clientele.
“Most companies have a cyber team, but they are never as sophisticated. They don’t have the technology and the skills that our employees do so they partner with us when they need the help,” Kroll’s head of Global Business Solutions Dave Kothari remarked.
He also explained that the Manila site for Kroll is considered an important hub in the company’s expansion strategy in the Asia Pacific region and represents their commitment in making the Philippines a vital component in their overarching global growth strategy.
“As we think about our next level of expansion, what better place than the Philippines? It’s a natural evolution for many companies that are expanding their center of excellence and we see a huge talent pool, not just for cyber, but for every single service that we offer globally could be housed right here in the Philippines,” Kothari shared.
By the end of this year, Kroll is eyeing to onboard around 200-300 employees and is already exploring ways to bring the rest of its services beyond cyber in the country.
“We’re looking for a lot of technologists. We’re looking for folks that do valuation, we’ve found a lot of finance-educated resources here that can do valuation for us. We’re also looking for a lot of marketing resources, we find that the Philippines has a lot of creative people,” Kothari concluded.
