How Accenture Acquisition Could Push Dragos Beyond Energy

While Accenture has a long history of acquiring OT services businesses, buying product companies such as Dragos signals a broader move toward owning security technology, said Forrester’s Paddy Harrington.

See Also: How Factories Lose Control When OT Meets the Cloud

Unlike enterprise IT purchases, Harrington said OT security decisions require approval not only from security leaders but also from operational executives responsible for industrial environments. Accenture’s enterprise customer relationships across healthcare and manufacturing could introduce Dragos technology to organizations that previously were outside its core critical infrastructure base (see: Accenture Buys Majority Stake in Dragos in $4.2B Deal).

“Energy, oil and gas, things like that, that have been a core piece of who Dragos is and what they’ve done,” Harrington said. “They could do other markets, but it wasn’t the biggest thing. Accenture opens that up. Because they’re Accenture. That gives them more entry into these markets that they didn’t go after as hard before because they weren’t getting the introduction and the buy-in.”

In this video interview with ISMG, Harrington also discussed:

• Why Accenture’s choice of Dragos specifically surprised Harrington;
• Why operational buyers prioritize safety and uptime above everything else;
• Why Dragos customers will closely watch whether independence is preserved.

Harrington focuses on endpoint security across a range of platforms, including desktop PCs, mobile devices, browsers, IoT devices, connected vehicles and operational technology. His research includes the endpoint’s impact on the security of business data and operations in light of the proliferation of interconnected devices and the evolving work environment.