When Mike Cote took over SecureWorks, which develops and installs software systems that inspect incoming network traffic and then blocks malicious content, the company was burning through $900,000 in cash each month, while generating only $820,000 in annual revenue.
Cote brought the company back from the brink by making some tough decisions, reducing headcount and focusing the company on one vertical industry – financial services – instead of dozens.
Those tough measures revived SecureWorks and put the company back on solid footing. Since Cote took over in 2002, SecureWorks’ client base has grown from 100 to 3,000 worldwide and now includes more than 1,500 financial institutions. Revenues have also soared.
In addition to gradually expanding the company’s core offerings to include vertical markets besides financial services, Cote also broadened the portfolio to encompass network intrusion prevention, 24/7 network management, security technology monitoring, corporate firewalls, host intrusion prevention services and email protection. And the company now counts 15% of the Fortune 500 among its clients, including four Fortune 10 enterprises.
Cote has backed this growth by nurturing a corporate culture that values integrity, service excellence, reliability, open communication and innovation. He also encourages a healthy work-life balance that has contributed to strong employee morale and high talent retention rates. Dell Inc. acquired the company earlier this year and renamed it Dell SecureWorks.
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