SyncDog: Secure Enterprise Mobility Solutions made simple

SyncDog is a leading independent software vendor (ISV) for building secureinfrastructure frameworks that protect enterprise networks against cyber breach from mobile computing sources. The SentinelSecureTM product line for application containerization and IoT (Internet of Things) module monitoring, provide the industry’s most proactive approach to securing enterprise mobility computing. 

Front and Center with Jonas Gyllensvaan (Founder and CEO) 

Why was the company set up? How did you select this industry and decide to be a part of the global platform?

When I started the company in 2013, I had already been working in mobile technology for years and noticed growing gaps in the marketplace for mobile security. The large international full-service mobile software vendors had very little competition and this created a monopolistic mobile security market with bullish business practices – rigid and expensive pricing structures, numerous acquisitions leading to poor or discontinued customer support, endless integration cycles, and mass-produced solutions with little focus on customer requirements that made sense. Ultimately, customers were tossed around with little alternative. I knew I could leverage my mobile technology subject matter expertise to challenge enterprise IT vendors with flexible, customer-centric solutions and service. 

Tell us about your first product that was launched?

SyncDog’s flagship enterprise mobility security product is SentinelSecureTM. This defence-grade mobile app workspace allows organizations to control and manage how employees exchange relevant, time-critical information back forth between their devices and the organizations’ secure networks. Our “containerized” mobile security partition protects organizational data (both at rest and in transit) by employing FIPS 140-2 certified (cert. #2687), AES 256-bit encryption with a simple software-based deployment and no impact to BYOD productivity or application functionality. 

The standard configuration of SentinelSecureTM comes with a full suite of productivity applications in the secure container that includes SharePoint, Enterprise and Local Chat, Geo-location Services, DropBox, a personal Information Management (PIM) suite, Office 365, Secure Mobile App Management & Development, File Sync, and many more. It can be deployed as a standalone container or as a complement to existing EMM/MDM investments. We have a solid partner ecosystem and have certified integration with MobileIron EMM, Snow Software, and Notify Technology EMM, and we have field integrations with other EMMs and MDMs.

What challenges did you face in your initial years?

It’s a constant challenge in IT security to stay current with changing technologies and make sure solutions are complementary. We work hard to ensure interoperability with all the disparate hardware and software existing within customers’ IT infrastructures. For example, when iOS 10 was released we made sure

SentinelSecureTM was compatible from day one. CEOs and CISOs have to be constantly vigilant to identify opportunities, danger zones, and winds of change. This can be challenging at times, but I have found that taking a personalized approach to customer requirements is the key to effective roadmapping. 

If you have to list five factors that have are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why? 

Functionality – we designed SentinelSecureTM to highlight the benefits of enterprise productivity via mobile devices and throughout the process, improving security on assets at the far reaches of the network perimeter. 

Focus – it’s tempting for vendors to try to be everything to everyone, but with SyncDog we have honed in on the specific needs of our customers and have built a best-in-breed container to address the market need.

Interoperability – SentinelSecureTM addresses the complexity of disparate hardware and infrastructures within organizational datacenters, including deployment options as a standalone EMM or a complement to existing EMM and MDM assets. 

Agility – security solution vendors must stay in lock-step with the changing requirements of the market. The speed at which this is achieved is a significant indicator of the viability of our product.

Flexibility – adaptability in pricing, licensing, and service allows us to tailor packages that fit our customers’ budgets.

What learnings helped you to set this company up?

I spent several years in enterprise-sized software vendors that also tried to build mobility tools. The process there is to have the development team work on everything, allocating dev time to the products that had the most potential. More times than not the products the market was screaming for received a small percentage of dev time so the product was there, just lacking in functionality. And because the dev teams are spread thin across multiple products, the enterprise vendors typically can’t build functional products like an ISV. 

I experienced this and had the vision to start an ISV-sized company.

Do you have any new products ready to be rolled out into the market?

We recently released two new products: 

SentinelSecureTM for Healthcare Ver. 2.6: Containerized mobile application workspace with a HIPAA-compliant configuration for healthcare-specific mobile workflows.

SentinelSecureTM for DoD (Department of Defense)

Ver. 2.6: Containerized mobile application workspace built to protect U.S. Government ecosystem data and networks as they accessed from federal agents’ and contractors’ mobile devices.

More about the SyncDog Founder and CEO

Jonas Gyllensvaan is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in mobile IT solution development and software business development. He has founded three successful start-ups and is a current board adviser to several others. Over the past 20 years, Jonas has designed, developed, and implemented technology projects for government agencies and commercial enterprises in more than a dozen countries. Jonas spends a good portion of his time visiting customers and traveling to leading industry conferences learning about client and marketplace needs, using this knowledge to build solutions with a focus on technology architecture, product design, and business management.

“We are steadily creating demand, for a viable alternative from an ISV, which pays attention to all what the marketplace wants, not just what the mega-enterprise vendor wants to give the market.”