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Evgeniya Naumova

Evgeniya Naumova is Executive VP of Corporate Business and Deputy CBDO, Commercial at Kaspersky, responsible for business strategy and sales growth within the region. She holds a PhD in economic science and has written many articles in the media about the development of intellectual potential in industrial enterprises.

Latest stories by Evgeniya

B2B sales digital transformation

In B2B sales, there’s a secret to nailing digital transformation

  • Business
  • min read
    • Digital transformation (also called digitalization) means deep and wide change to technology use in all areas of a business, including sales. Every organization had to face this critical reality during lockdown. Organizational change experts McKinsey & Company's recent survey of over 3,600 businesses in B2B sales showed they thought the COVID-19 crisis had roughly doubled the importance of remote selling. 90 percent had either moved or were moving entirely to remote sales. Corporate culture and mindsets must also shift if this change is to work. It's a big ask in a small timeframe. So, how? Strategy for transformation in little time Each company treads its own path, but good digital transformation strategies have a few things in common. They clearly define the goal and high-level processes around it. They show understanding of what each team does, recognizing how their daily work will change. They have milestones along the way and show how things will change when each is reached. Under lockdown, businesses faced losing the personal touch. Employees couldn't meet customers or partners to build a relationship or negotiate face-to-face. The need to take sales online was acute. Familiar for B2C, it was now a challenge for B2B. But we also know there are many potential benefits. To name just a few, customer expectations of the sales process are changing: Some prefer not to meet with vendors, and many want to do their own research. Analyzing digitalized sales data means we can make more evidence-informed improvements to what we do. In 2020, my team at Kaspersky planned to increase our use of digital tools in selling smoothly. COVID-19 forced us to implement our framework in the first few months. We kicked off a system of transformations. By the start of April, we were running a successful, worldwide pilot, communicating with enterprise customers and partners using social media. It meant we could fast organize remote PoCs (Proofs of Concept) leading to contracts for thousands of licenses and the odd one-day sale. Change how you sell, change the culture Digital transformation also means changing your company culture, like how people communicate or manage processes. How they adapt to change influences how the sales ecosystem develops. Starting a big project gets more challenging when your team is in a surprise new setting, as happened with the rapid global shift to working from home. To support sales managers in a digital environment, give clear guidance on how they should use their new options. I'll give you an example. As part of our program to go digital, my team began a campaign to give our regional home-based sales teams new skills for digital selling and social networking. We showed how the skills and know-how they used in person worked just as well for their 'new normal.' We united the team by showcasing everyone's efforts. The result? Sales went up. Understand your customers are facing the same change We knew our partners and customers were going through rapid digital transformation too. We wanted to make sure the fast transition didn't become 'scary' for them, associated with risks and the unknown. The COVID-19 pandemic meant digital transformation became inevitable, but they could take comfort in having choices. To make sure transformation was a success, our team worked with other departments, like HR, IT and Communications, to provide managers and partners with insights about how to work remotely with customers. They needed to be able to build bridges and trust to make sure they were giving customers the right advice. No matter the tools you use, in the real world or online, it's professionalism and expertise that seal the deal. The past six months have shown digital transformation is a must. Before, businesses had some discretion over the speed of change. Now, circumstances have made it urgent. Together, the efforts of companies, their partners and customers to embrace the 'new normal' can make the buying and selling business-to-business work better for all.
technologies helping to fight coronavirus.

How tech and innovation are fighting the coronavirus, COVID-19

  • Technology
  • min read
    • Innovation is a profound kind of recycling. Innovators go through the closets, sheds and attics of human knowledge, taking snippets of what we already know and combining them in new ways, solving new problems. Despite mass quarantine and isolation, innovations appear almost daily that aim to save lives and support people's well-being in the face of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Here are six ways technology is taking on the novel virus. 1.  Folding proteins on home computers to speed up finding a COVID-19 antibody The power of home computers is helping scientists develop an antibody to stop COVID-19 infecting lung cells. You can take part by downloading a protein folding simulator. Why simulate how proteins fold? According to Ariana Brenner Clerkin of Folding@home, COVID-19 first infects people when a protein on the virus surface (the spike protein) binds to a lung cell's receptor protein (ACE2). They've already developed an antibody for similar coronavirus SARS. To find one for Covid-19, they must better understand the spike protein's structure. They need to study all shapes the spike protein can make. Folding@home models the Covid-19 spike protein and finds sites for an antibody to target. Computational models can do the folding, but they need a lot of computing power. Many computers working toward the same goal will speed up finding an antibody. The data that comes out of Folding@home is open to all. 2.  Crowdsourcing protein design against the coronavirus The free online game FoldIt goes a step further and crowdsources designing a protein that may become a future COVID-19 antiviral. Run by scientists alongside the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design, the game lets users design a protein that will bind with COVID-19's spike proteins. https://youtu.be/gGvlNo3nMfw 3.  Community-engineered ventilators powered by car windscreen-wiper motors In severe cases, COVID-19 affects lung function to the extent that patients may need a ventilator to breathe. Several countries face a shortage of ventilators, and it looks like ramping up their manufacture through current supply lines may not be enough. This led a group of some 17 engineers led by Spanish prototyping company Protofy to develop OxyGEN – a ventilator that uses a car windscreen-wiper motor to automate a resuscitation bag. Protofy says an untrained person can make it in four hours using wood, acrylic or aluminum. This wonderfully calming video shows the ventilator in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Kz3ukK8Pc&feature=youtu.be The group is now working alongside two Spanish hospitals to test and improve the device. Although not yet determined safe and effective, the group has made the OxyGEN ventilator's plans freely available. They've invited engineers, makers and any other "geek" to a forum to ventilate their ideas for improving OxyGEN's design. 4.  Training AI to detect signs of coronavirus in speech Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said in a virtual conference, "We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test." But with all the will in the world, testing time, facilities and expertise are limited. AI could help relieve that burden if it can detect COVID-19 by using the sound of someone's voice. Voice forensics expert Professor Rita Singh of Carnegie Mellon University, Israeli inventor Shmuel Ur and natural language processing startup Voca.ai are developing an AI-powered system that could detect coronavirus infections using a voice sample. Voca.ai invites members of the public to submit a voice sample that they say will be anonymized, aggregated and studied. Some privacy and security implications come to mind here. A voice sample may not fit the definition of personal data in many jurisdictions. Still, with biometric identification technology fast becoming more common, it may be the type of data that's easily de-anonymized. The study's consent form also says they may pass the 'anonymized' data on to third parties. 5.  Charlotte and Dave: 3D-printable valves that connect a snorkeling mask to oxygen supply Former hospital physician Renato Favero came up with an idea to fix Italy's shortage of hospital CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) masks: Adjusting a snorkeling mask. He took the idea to engineering and design firm Isinnova. The snorkeling mask's manufacturer willingly supplied its design drawings. From there, Isinnova designed 3D-printable components that can connect the mask to wall-mounted oxygen and CPAP respirators. Here's a video introducing you to the two new 3D-printed valves, Charlotte and Dave. https://youtu.be/w4Csqdxkrfw Although not certified and meant only for a situation where there is no other option, Isinnova has patented the valve pattern and made it freely available. 6.  Remote hackathon unleashes 42,000 minds on COVID-19 In March 2020, Germany held a remote Hackathon #WirvsVirus: Hacking to fight the crisis. In English, We versus Virus. The country's biggest digital ideas competition to date, the virtual event attracted 42,000 participants. They used Airtable to organize teams to collaborate remotely on 800 challenges around the virus's impacts – from contact tracing, to border controls, to motivating people to stay home. What ideas have come out of it? Here's the #WirvsVirus solutions showcase. One example is TrackCOVIDCluster, an app that could help with contact tracing by identifying and notifying people you've been near if you test positive. https://youtu.be/7puF5B9L01s Although a hackathon aims to get as many ideas as possible on the table rather than assess their viability, the team behind TrackCOVIDCluster has had privacy in mind from the start. What can everyday innovators learn from these ideas? What stands out is how fast these ideas have become something tangible and the teams' openness to sharing. It's heartening to see so many willing to give whatever they can for the greater good. It seems a radical question, and yet, you needn't look far for business leaders who say things like, the secret to success is generosity and it's everyone's job to give something back. The healthcare industry itself is not immune to the risks of life-threatening cyberattacks. In this critical situation, medical staff takes on most of the load. So to help these organizations focus on what matters most, Kaspersky is offering free licenses for many of our healthcare products. With economic tough times expected alongside the technological challenge of fighting COVID-19, there's no better time to ask how we can make generosity a bigger part of business, leadership and life.
it budget

The battle for business buy-in: Three ways to justify your IT security spend

  • Business
  • min read
    • Proving return on investment in IT security – an almost impossible task for IT professionals. Why? Because they're often found trying to balance budget limitations, while constantly fighting to stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape to protect your business. But times are changing. Companies are starting to treat IT security as an important investment, rather than simply a cost-center. That said, justifying IT cybersecurity investment is still a challenge. So, here are three reasons why it's crucial for businesses to keep their cybersecurity strategy up to date, in terms of both budget and approach. A cyberattack could cripple your business… seriously It's no secret: businesses of all sizes and industries are prioritizing cybersecurity spend. Enterprises now spend almost a third of their IT budget ($8.9M) on cybersecurity, and budgets are expected to rise over the next three years. Both small medium businesses (SMBs) and enterprises predict they will spend up to 15 percent more on cybersecurity until 2022. Why? Because people are realizing that cybersecurity attacks can be devastating. Ransomware WannaCry stopped the production lines of five Renault factories, while a similar cyber-threat, exPetr, cost Maersk – the world's largest container ship and supply company – between 200 and 300 million US dollars. Along with threatening current business operations, cyber-threats impact future-focused initiatives. For example, digital transformation and operational mobility projects require organizations to operate a growing IT infrastructure, meaning they might lose sight of what's happening to their data. Consequently, data could be compromised or even encrypted. The Zepto ransomware, which was spread via cloud storage apps, is a prime example of this threat in action. The cost of dealing with cyberattacks is on the rise – especially when you take into account factors like hiring external consultants, acquiring new software, and dealing with PR risks and litigations, to name a few. With those costs rising and crucial business operations being put at risk, it's no surprise that senior leaders are getting involved in the cybersecurity debate. But it's not just their own infrastructure they have to think about. 2. Your supplier networks are a threat, even when your business is protected Breaches can happen even if your business is protected. Sounds crazy, but it's true. Normally breaches happen through supply chain attacks or as a result of vulnerabilities in third party software. A case in point: American retailer Target. Hackers accessed the company's network through its ventilation and air conditioning vendor, costing them $18.5m. This was followed by the Equifax breach; the company was hacked through a vulnerability in legitimate open source software – software in which anyone can view the code. The hackers gained access to their databases, stealing 145m accounts with crucial client data like names, social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and even credit card numbers. Equinox had to pay around $700m to settle the breach. Ouch. 3. Protect your business data, wherever it is Cloud services offer many benefits to businesses, from taking advantage of a more efficient mobile workforce, to reducing infrastructure costs and optimizing business operations. Our research shows that 73 percent of SMBs use at least one software as a service (SaaS) hosted business application, while 45 percent of enterprises have either already raised or are planning to grow their use of hybrid cloud in the next 12 months. However, as businesses move more and more data to the cloud, it's easy to lose track of what you're transferring, or where it's kept. Data 'on the go' that's stored outside of the corporate data center – for example, in third party IT infrastructure – is presenting businesses with new security issues and new costs. The most expensive incidents in 2017 to 2018 related to cloud environments and data protection issues. For example, for SMBs, two-thirds of the most expensive cybersecurity incidents are related to the cloud and third party hosted IT infrastructure failures, resulting in an average loss of $179K. That's why it's so important to consider a dedicated level of cybersecurity when moving workloads to cloud platforms. Cybersecurity needs to be a core function of IT infrastructure For businesses of any size, cyberattacks are a risk – many companies today deal with third party contractors, cloud infrastructure and a growing amount of sensitive customer and business data. To reach the right level of cybersecurity, it needs to be a core part of the IT infrastructure. When cybersecurity is a core function, solutions can then be put in place, meaning physical and virtual machines, containers, operating systems and cloud systems can be protected in a flexible way. This is particularly necessary when dealing with visibility on hybrid cloud infrastructure – or cloud systems where multiple parties have access. Last but not least: businesses have to realize their responsibility for data that's stored in cloud applications and platforms. A false sense of safety and relying on providers to ensure security can be extremely costly. Your data is your responsibility so invest in keeping it under lock and key. Article published in 2019, statistics correct at time of publishing.
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About Secure Futures

Secure Futures magazine is your go-to business guide for opinions, trends and insight into the world of technology and cybersecurity. We help your business to bring on the future. Brought to you by Kaspersky, the global cybersecurity experts.

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