Q&A with OneAdvanced, Security Excellence Awards finalist

‘Organisations that can demonstrate resilience, transparency, and strong operational discipline will differentiate themselves’

OneAdvanced is a finalist in the Security Team of the Year category in Computing’s Security Excellence Awards.

Simon Riggs is CISO and risk advisor with OneAdvanced, one of the UK's largest providers of business software and services, serving 20,000+ global customers.

Why do you think awards like the Security Excellence Awards matter?

Events like the Computing Security Excellence Awards matter because they recognise cybersecurity as a foundation of trust and resilience, not just a technical function. At OneAdvanced, our customers rely on our software to run essential services and to securely power the world of work.

These awards do a brilliant job of recognising teams that understand that security is no longer a background function; it is a visible, everyday responsibility that underpins trust, continuity, and confidence.

What would winning this award mean to you, OneAdvanced and your team?

Winning this award would recognise the progress our cyber team has made in protecting services that customers depend on every day. For OneAdvanced, it would reinforce that security and resilience are integral to how we support customers to operate safely and effectively.

For the team, it would be meaningful recognition of the care, discipline, and professionalism they bring to work where the impact of getting things wrong is very real.

What is OneAdvanced’s proudest achievement over the past year?

Our proudest achievement has been strengthening the link between cyber security and customer outcomes. We have embedded security more deeply into governance, delivery, and operations, ensuring it actively supports availability, integrity, and trust in the services our customers rely on.

This has helped customers focus on their own missions, whether delivering care, education, or legal services, knowing the platforms powering their work are protected and resilient.

What have been the biggest challenges of 2025 so far and how have you overcome them? How have your people helped?

The biggest challenge has been balancing pace and scale with the responsibility of protecting critical customer services. We have had to improve legacy environments, integrate change, and meet rising expectations without disrupting the services our customers depend on.

We overcame this by prioritising risk pragmatically and by empowering our people to make informed decisions. The team’s commitment, collaboration, and willingness to own outcomes have been central to maintaining stability and trust.

How has your industry changed over the past year and what changes does it still need to make?

The industry has become far more focused on accountability and resilience. Customers now expect clear evidence that security supports continuity and safe operation, not just compliance. However, there is still progress to be made in shifting from security as a reporting exercise to security as an enabler of dependable services - particularly for organisations that underpin essential work.

What do you see as the main opportunities for your industry in the coming year and how will OneAdvanced capitalise on them?

The main opportunity is to position cyber security as a core component of customer trust. Organisations that can demonstrate resilience, transparency, and strong operational discipline will differentiate themselves.

At OneAdvanced, we will continue to focus on assurance, resilience, and open engagement with customers, ensuring security actively supports their ability to operate safely and confidently, we demonstrated this by launching our trust centre in June 2025.

What are the key demands you have seen from customers in the last 12 months?

Customers are asking for assurance that security will not compromise availability or delivery of critical services. They want clear insight into how risks are managed, how incidents would be handled, and how we ensure continuity in challenging situations. Above all, they want confidence that the systems powering their work are secure by design and reliable in practice.

Which new technology trend are you placing your bets on?

We are investing in intelligent automation and data-led security operations to improve consistency, speed, and decision-making. Used well, these technologies allow us to focus effort where it matters most - protecting customer-facing services, whilst ensuring human judgement remains at the centre of how we manage risk.