As part of our Interconnection Between People, Process and Technology book produced in partnership with Tanium, we spoke to Guillaume Lenglet, Director of Infrastructure and Production, Xelians.

Guillaume Lenglet is Director of Infrastructure and Production at Xelians, where he manages several teams, including an infrastructure team which automates the delivery of virtual machines. The company's primary focus is the preservation of paper archives. Today they store and manage digital data in data centres with a focus on preserving data integrity and reducing the risks of data corruption or theft.

Guillaume’s main business priorities are security, agility and efficiency, and he ensures that these are at the forefront of any decisions on investing in new tools or technologies.

“I evaluate each technology based on its ability to simplify operations, reduce risks and free up time for my teams.”

Guillaume acknowledges that AI and automation are transforming the cybersecurity world but he argues that this should be viewed as an opportunity, not a threat.

“It allows us to anticipate threats, detect anomalies faster and improve responsiveness. However this requires mastery of the tools and a clear ethical framework.”

Guillaume concedes that there are some technological challenges associated with adopting AI, machine learning and automation. However, the main challenge is integration into sometimes outdated systems. He also highlights a need to focus on training of teams and managing expectations. We also need to secure the usage, especially regarding the data used and automated decisions.

So far, his team has automated the OS updates, compliance checks and some deployments. This has reduced the operational workload and allowed them to focus efforts on high-value tasks.

Guillaume explains that if they could achieve full visibility of their endpoints, they would be able to shift from a reactive to a proactive posture. It would also enhance their ability to detect anomalies quickly and prioritise remediation actions. The impact of full data accessibility would, he says, be transformational.

“Data is a lever for transformation when properly utilised. It would enable predictive analysis, better resource allocation and more informed decision making. Reliable predictions from our data would allow us to anticipate incidents, smooth out workload peaks, better plan technical evolutions and justify budget decisions based on facts.”

His greatest concern about his data is the protection of sensitive data, especially given what he sees as the increasing risks of leaks or breaches. He is also concerned with the quality and reliability of the data used for strategic decisions. He believes that his greatest opportunity from data is to better understand usage and behaviour in order to continuously adapt their IT strategy.