StayPrivate bridges the security gap between corporate and individual email, enabling businesses and individuals to use email to share important information securely and compliantly.
StayPrivate is unique in that it works entirely outside of the corporate IT security perimeter. Instead of businesses needing to extend and potentially compromise their secure IT infrastructure, StayPrivate provides a secure delivery and information safeguarding service from the moment it leaves the email gateway. Individual recipients are automatically generated their own private area within StayPrivate where they can access, store, reply and share important information with others.
1. When did you initially have the idea to set up your own company?
We set up StayPrivate in 2014 to enable financial services businesses and their clients to exchange important information in a secure, compliant and convenient manner.
2. What were the driving factors/reasons behind your decision?
Coming from an enterprise financial services background, we were already aware of the cyber and data protection threats of using external email. Large banks were investing in technology and processes to either minimise email usage or to implement complex email encryption solutions. But everyday businesses and individuals did not have the expertise, budget or appetite for such solutions. We felt that there had to be a better way to solve the problem.
3. What has been your most difficult problem to overcome?
Ironically, the biggest problem has been that businesses and individuals are so reliant on email and this is even more the case post COVID. Email is simply so easy and so universally used that it forms a basic part of almost any customer service proposition. It is logical that companies do not want to disrupt this.
Rather than creating another portal, businesses just wanted their customers to have secure email inbox like they had hence the StayPrivate solution focused on upgrading the security of the non-corporate email world.
4. What do you feel are the emerging trends in the current market?
As more and more people move their businesses and personal lives online, cybercriminals and threats have become increasingly sophisticated. And again, COVID has in many ways increased the opportunity for cyber criminals.
Enterprises, SMEs and individuals are particularly vulnerable to phishing attacks starting at the weakest point of the chain, the unprotected individual webmail account. Over 80% of successful phishing attacks now come from personal email accounts.
The introduction of data protection regulations such as GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA have pushed businesses to address the data problem and are a step in the right direction.
Individuals are increasingly aware of cyber threats and online fraud. Furthermore, there are growing concerns about data monetising business models, creating ever more need for a ‘privacy toolkit’.
5. Do you have many competitors? What are your USP’s?
They are many secure email providers but they have been predominately designed for business protection and fail to deliver an acceptable user experience for the recipient.
We have approached the problem facing businesses by looking first to who they communicate with and how they communicate with them. By doing things in this way we have created a solution that works for both businesses and individuals in a practical way.
For businesses, we offer a solution that is both easy to implement, easy to use and great value for money. It works out of their existing corporate email and is priced to directly mirror their usage.
For individuals, there are an increasing number of consumer solutions for email, messaging and file sharing but they are not really designed for consumer to business use and do not match the universality of email.
StayPrivate is an intuitive, modern, and easy to use app consumers can use to access, store, and share information safely on any device.
6. How do you/your organisation define innovation?
Innovation is simply finding a better way to solve a problem or address a need.
7. Have you had to alter your strategy or leadership style due to elements that have stifled innovation recently?
Not really. What we have done though is rather then focus on short-term growth, we have taken the time to prioritise product development, with the target of delivering the best user experience we can.
8. What mindsets, qualities or talents do you feel characterises the Innovators whom you most admire?
Ideas are often easy. The philosophy of hard work and re-learning is key. The need to design, build and test, fit to market, learn, and then design, build, fit and learn again. And again, and again …. Only then the innovation feels real.