Maurizio Desiderio boasts over 15 years of experience in international environments within the Information Technology sector. He began his experience in the UK at companies such as Staffware, Computron, and BancTec. He returned to Italy in 2001 with the task of opening the Italian branch of SilverStream Software as General Manager, after being responsible for the channel in the UK, Ireland, and Southern Europe. He then joined Novell – following the acquisition of SilverStream Software – where he served as Sales Director for Italy and Greece.
Since April 2006, he has been the EMEA Regional Director at Imprivata, with commercial responsibility for Italy, Southern Europe, the Mediterranean countries, and the Middle East.
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How is the Italian single sign-on (SSO) market presented and what are its prospects?
The Italian market almost perfectly reflects the European market. The introduction of strict regulations and increased cost awareness are the main reasons pushing Italian companies to solve the issues related to password management. Especially in the last twelve months, I have had the feeling that this topic is becoming a priority and no longer just a “nice to have.” Identifying a specific reason that justifies this change is difficult for me. I imagine that the availability on the market of a non-invasive, quick to implement solution that allows companies to solve this problem in a few weeks with a contained investment is a determining factor.
The list of Imprivata customers continues to grow. I believe this data confirms that the OneSign solution has something extra.
What is the relationship companies have with this issue?
I believe the most appropriate term to describe the relationship Italian companies have with this issue is “skepticism.” Most companies confirm to me that they are aware of the extent of the problem and acknowledge that they have lived with it for years.
The main reason that has prevented them from implementing a single sign-on solution is related to costs. Most solutions on the market require considerable project commitment, making the solution difficult to justify. Some of our clients — companies with 1000 employees — have spent over $2,000,000 to implement an Enterprise Single Sign-On solution, where 90% of the expenditure was related to consulting necessary for the implementation of the solution itself. We have been able to replace this solution in a few weeks, making the client spend less than the budget required for managing the initial solution.
What is Imprivata’s vision?
Imprivata’s vision is to become the reference Authentication and Access platform for all companies. It is clear that this goal is very ambitious, but considering the growth rate of Imprivata in terms of acquiring new customers, I believe it is achievable.
Who is your typical customer?
Our typical customer is a company that needs to solve Access Management and Enterprise Single Sign-On issues by adopting a solution that can be easily, quickly, and non-invasively integrated with a physical access system, without spending large amounts.
We have many customers who have implemented OneSign enabling Single Sign-On for over 90 applications in less than 45 days. I am convinced that no company in the world can achieve this kind of result.
Who are your competitors?
The OneSign offering is based on a pair of secured appliances. Inside the appliance, there are three products:
1 – Access Management – that is, Strong Authentication solutions of various types such as biometrics, smart cards, proximity cards, USB Tokens, One Time Passwords.
2 – Enterprise Single Sign-On
3 – Physical/Logical – that is, the module that allows a company to integrate an existing physical access system with a logical one, creating a more complete access security system.
There is no company in the world with an integrated offering commercialized in the form of a pre-configured appliance, so we believe we are unique in the market.
There are many vendors offering solutions that can compete with some of our products. Most players on the market come from the Identity Management world and offer modules, such as those for enterprise single sign-on, which — although marketed as part of a suite — are actually owned by third parties and the vendor is unable to support them due to lack of access to the source code, creating significant problems in case of support requests.
What does Imprivata offer more compared to competitors present in Italy, why choose you?
Imprivata offers a solution that, as recently described by an IT Director of a well-known Italian company client, “simply works.” This comment may seem like a cliché, but it actually reflects the skepticism I mentioned earlier, present among Italian companies, stemming from negative experiences in the recent past.
Beyond the maturity of the solution, our clients have repeatedly emphasized the quality of support that Imprivata offers, given that OneSign is the result of work by our engineers.
In nearly twenty years of working in the IT sector, this is the first time I work for a company where the vast majority of customers are satisfied with the solution and are willing to share their experiences with others.
What are the industry news?
The sector we operate in is continuously evolving. We are experiencing a period where some well-known vendors have decided to withdraw due to their inability to provide a valid and competitive offer, proving the complexity of the issue.
In my opinion, the most interesting news is related to corporate evolutions of vendors. I foresee that in the near future the number of vendors will decrease and more partnership agreements will be established among various suppliers.
How did the first half of 2007 go and what are your future objectives?
The first half went very well. Imprivata is in line with the goals the company set itself. I believe that EMEA in particular is growing incredibly not only because of the quality and uniqueness of the offering, but especially thanks to a channel that continues to appreciate our solution.
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