New Open Systems CEO Bets on Service to Win in SASE Market

Open Systems snagged Aryaka’s former chief commercial officer as its next CEO to boost sales efficiency, refine the go-to-market structure and grow in North America.

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The Zurich, Switzerland-based managed SASE provider tasked Dennis Monner with leveraging Open Systems’ blend of managed services and technical depth to serve companies looking for alternatives to U.S. or Israeli cybersecurity providers. He said the company’s integrated SASE offering – complete with SD-WAN, ZTNA and managed support – is tailored for large global enterprises seeking fewer vendors.

“My background is primarily go-to-market sales, increasing the efficiency and growing the companies,” Monner told Information Security Media Group. “And that’s a huge opportunity here for me, and I really look forward to bringing Open Systems to the next level. And my personal target is we will bring Open Systems to number one in Europe.”

Open Systems was founded in 1990, employs roughly 300 people and was sold in September 2024 by private equity firm EQT to conglomerate Swiss Post. The company in 2023 split its managed detection and response business into a stand-alone entity called Ontinue. Monner founded and led German SASE provider Secucloud for eight years before selling to Aryaka, where he was chief commercial officer (see: Swiss Post to Strengthen Cybersecurity With Open Systems Buy).

Why the Swiss Post Sale Drew Monner to Open Systems

Monner said Swiss Post’s long-term, value-oriented mindset differs from the often aggressive, short-term financial objectives of private equity or venture capital owners. Having worked under PE-backed firms previously, Monner appreciates that Swiss Post is not focused solely on ROI or quick exits, but rather on building a robust, strategically important cybersecurity company for Europe.

“I used to work for big venture capital companies or private equity companies,” Monner said. “I know how they work. That can be a little bit challenging sometimes. And now we have a very traditional, well-settled owner in Swiss Post. Not everything is only number-driven, as it is in the private equity space. The focus in building up a strong, growing company.”

Monner started as Open Systems’ CEO Wednesday, and plans to spend the coming months evaluating the performance of the sales team, refining messaging and potentially re-structuring how the company aligns its offerings to customer needs. He expressed admiration for the company’s engineering culture, which draws from elite technical universities in Europe and has translated into a super strong product.

Monner wants to increase sales efficiency, better segment and engage with enterprise customers, drive measurable revenue growth, and plans to dive into organizational alignment, client segmentation and sales process optimization during his first 100 days. He aims to focus on organizations with 1,000 to 30,000 employees, which Monner sees as Open Systems’ sweet spot.

“As my expertise is go-to-market, we will especially look to be more efficient to help us better address our customers,” Monner said. “That would be my primary target.”

What Makes Open Systems’ Approach to SASE Services Different

While EMEA customers are currently in a more conservative investment climate, Monner said U.S. firms are more actively investing in digital modernization, particularly around moving from legacy VPNs to modern SASE architectures. He believes Open Systems’ model is especially appealing to global firms with distributed workforces and complex infrastructures, which are common in North America.

“We are already successful in the U.S. and North America,” Monner said. “I still have a very good network from my former job at Aryaka. And there’s a lot of opportunities, and that’s up to us now to catch them and to grow and continue what we are doing so far.”

Many vendors in the SASE space offer technology but require external service providers or internal customer teams to manage deployment, configuration and day-to-day operation. Monner said Open Systems breaks from this mold by combining network and security capabilities with in-house, 24/7 management. This model creates a feedback loop between product teams and frontline engineers.

“What we see from customers around the world, they would like to have one vendor for everything,” Monner said. “That’s what we are building on our technology stack, that we can give the whole picture to the customer.”

Monner said Open Systems delivers 24/7 monitoring, management and support. Engineers, not general support staff or call centers, handle front-line customer interactions. Open Systems’ engineers rotate through support roles so they stay close to real-world problems, which Monner said is a core strategic asset that ensures continual improvement in both product and service quality.

“We have cybersecurity experts who are managing all our customers, 24/7 around the world,” Monner said. “All our engineers also have to do a part of their time taking care of all our customer tickets. So, our engineers are totally aware of what’s ongoing.”