(L-R) Cameron Cumming (Nueva Solutions) and Ferdinand Tadiaman (Nueva Solutions)
Former Counterparts Technology client engagement director Cameron Cumming has left the Sydney-based IT solutions provider to dig into a new venture, Nueva Solutions, a cyber security provider specialising in software-as-a-service solutions.
Cumming, who had been at Counterparts for more than four years, founded the new cyber security player with former Nutanix NSW public sector account executive Ferdinand Tadiaman, who left the vendor in September last year to make a start on the new venture. Both are now co-founders and directors of Nueva Solutions.
“One journey concludes so the next journey can begin. Last Friday I bid farewell to my Counterparts Technology colleagues and friends,” Cumming said in a social media post on 15 March.
“I am thrilled to share with you all, that today I embark on my new journey as co-founder of Nueva Solutions, alongside Ferdinand Tadiaman. The year 2020 was certainly a year of reflection and opportunity, and so Nueva Solutions was born.
“Nueva Solutions is a cyber security startup that focuses on protecting organisations from cyber security risks in a rapidly changing technology landscape,” he added.
At present, the new company counts no fewer than eight vendors among its roster of partners, including Eset, Okta, Proofpoint, Lookout and Druva.
Nueva, which has a particular focus on software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, specialises in providing consulting advice, professional and managed services, and next-gen solutions. Cumming and Tadiaman had worked on customer events and projects together previously as partner and vendor while at Counterparts and Nutanix, respectively.
The inspiration for founding a cyber-focused business was sparked by a pandemic-disrupted customer tour to California that the two teamed up for, which kicked off just as the United States and Australia began to tighten their borders amid COVID-19 transmission fears.
Although the tour’s original itinerary largely went out the window, it gave Cumming and Tadiaman the time and the space to find out from the customers they were on tour with what they really needed from their IT solutions and services.
As it turned out, many of the conversations ended up at the growing need for cyber security.
“We were speaking to our customers and thinking about what else we could be doing for them?” Tadiaman told ARN. “Information security became a massive priority...every conversation I had with senior IT decision makers was around ‘I need to get my house into order’ and ‘I need to secure my workforce and data’.
“Cam [Cumming] and I had a conversation, and we realised there was definitely something here, so let’s get the wheels in motion,” he added.
Once the idea was formed, Cumming and Tadiaman reached out to their respective networks, getting vendors and customers on board, while building a plan for what services they would be able to build around those vendors’ solutions.
However, both Cumming and Tadiaman are adamant that their approach is not one of simply selling a solution, but rather consulting with customers to develop a strategy to help solve customers’ problems.
“We spoke to some experts that we now in our network to guide us about what we should create our services around and, more often than not, it was recommended that the security assessment review and associated services was a good way to go,” Tadiaman said.
Now that Cumming has left Counterparts and joined Tadiaman in taking on Nueva’s day-to-day operations full-time, the company’s activities are ramping up.
From being incorporated in June last year, Nueva now has at least 10 employees, most of whom are in technical roles, and claims customers in New Zealand and Asia, in addition to Australia, where both founders are based.
“It only took three or four months to get things up and running,” Cumming told ARN.
Today, the company is not only generating its own leads, new business is arriving from its vendor partners now as well -- a sign of confidence in the new player, according to Cumming and Tadiaman.
“We’ve been working with our strategic vendors and have been bringing business to them; now they’re introducing us to new customers as well,” Tadiaman said.
Moreover, government work could soon be on the cards, with the company being accepted into at least one NSW government procurement panel.
“We’re looking forward to ramping up and making a difference,” Tadiaman said.
