In conversation with Brian Campion, DNA IT
DNA IT was shortlisted in four categories at the 2025 Tech Excellence Awards and, for the second year in a row, was named the managed security services provider of the year. Chief operating officer Brian Campion talks about how the win recognises the team’s hard work, and how DNA IT plans to further grow its business this year.
Winning managed security services provider of the year for two consecutive years is quite the achievement. Why do you think you won?
Five years ago we redefined our security strategy. The main objective was to bring enterprise level IT security to small, medium and larger sized companies. To do that we looked at security solutions which were both best in class and also were well positioned at favourable price points for our customers. Our approach was guided by the NIST Cyber Security Framework and also the ISO 27001 security standard.
We used this approach to select relevant solutions, test them in our lab and assess them against our agreed criteria based on the above standards. This ensured that we only adopted products that met these stringent standards. We updated our internal processes and procedures based on these standards and also our ISO 9001 quality standard. This approach has enabled us to constantly improve our offering.
A number of years ago we started to implement the UK government-backed Cyber Essentials certification which is recommended as a minimum standard for all organisations. We recommend this to our customers, which ensures that they have well defined processes in place to manage their IT environment, and also the necessary technologies to protect their environment.
Now, as NIS2 looms and as customers consider how this standard affects them, we have a mature offering that gives customers an accelerated path to compliance. As customers become more au-fait with the need to adopt much more rigorous security management and control techniques, we are well positioned to assist this journey in a practical and pragmatic way.
We’re not just going out to deploy technologies, it’s a fully rounded approach with compliance at the centre.
What do you think is the biggest cyber security risk Irish companies face?
We know that AI is going to become a bigger cyber security risk and threat as we go forward. But the main risk has always been, and continues to be, the human factor. We can have many technical solutions in place but should somebody decide to post a password or upload sensitive commercial data for a critical work system in a non-work area, and that gets compromised, then basically the keys of the kingdom are vulnerable.
A key part of our approach is to continually educate users, and we have programmes that run constantly educating our clients on the risks. Of course, AI is going to be problematic and difficult to identify as it gets more sophisticated, but education can play a key role here, in addition to having defined processes in place. A technology solution on its own is not going to fix this; it needs the processes, policies and education in place to reinforce the technical solution.
Does DNA IT have any growth plans for the short term?
We do anticipate growing quite substantially over the next couple of years – we’ve doubled in size in the last four to five years, and our plan is to do that again and more. We’ve recently kicked off a digital marketing campaign that’s part of a drive towards growing our business organically. We’ve also opened an office in Romania to access a further talent pool, and we will look to grow that. We also anticipate, at some stage over the next two years, acquiring a company to expand our customer base and augment our talent pool.
Do you think DNA IT can win the managed security services provider of the year award for a third year running?
We’ll certainly be there or thereabouts again. I think three in a row would be pretty exceptional. We’ve a great track record though: over the past number of years, we’ve managed to win four Tech Excellence Awards, one for communications excellence, one for marketing excellence, and then two for the managed security service provider of the year. In this business, remaining current and innovating is critical so we always strive for excellence.
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