Dan Streetman Interview on NYSE Floor Talk

Dan Streetman on transforming how organizations manage and secure their IT systems

On May 3, 2024, Tanium CEO Dan Streetman was featured on NYSE Floor Talk to discuss Tanium’s business and several issues facing the IT security and operations industry. Topics Dan discussed include the cybersecurity challenges that companies face in 2024 and beyond such as the evolution of cloud, hybrid cloud, and hybrid working environments and AI-enabled threats. Dan also highlighted the importance of Tanium’s partner ecosystem, which is composed of technology partners like Microsoft and ServiceNow, as well as consulting and systems delivery partners.

Below is a full transcript of the interview, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

NYSC Floor Talk: Joining me today on NYSE Floor Talk is Dan Streetman, he is the CEO at Tanium. Dan, fantastic to have you here, thanks for joining.

Dan Streetman: Judy, it’s great to be here with you. My pleasure.

NYSC Floor Talk: Dan, let’s start off by talking about the company. Talk to me about Tanium and its mission. How are you helping companies face the cybersecurity challenges of 2024 and beyond?

Dan Streetman: Sure, well, first and foremost, Tanium brings the power of certainty to the most security-conscious organizations in the world. We work with the largest banks, and the largest retailers, but all the way down to local schools and municipalities, protecting their hospitals, and even protecting their students and patients. We provide the power of certainty through the Tanium Converged Endpoint Management platform. We call that XEM, and it’s the idea that to truly secure organizations, you have to operate them efficiently. So, you want to have a single pane of glass where IT operations and security can work together, and that’s the real focus of what we deliver for organizations around the world.

NYSC Floor Talk: Dan, what are some of the challenges that companies are facing that make Tanium’s mission so important?

Dan Streetman: Well, so we think about just what’s happened in the last, let’s call it five years. So first, you’ve got cloud, hybrid cloud, and hybrid working environments. On top of this now, the additional compute power organizations are adding because they’re delivering more and more AI-enabled aspects of it. All that makes the world more complex. So, we’ve gone from where organizations deployed a point solution to solve a security or operation challenge and a point solution over here, maybe in the chief security officer’s organization. Our goal is to bring them together and help unify them. And what that does is help them operate more efficiently, and be more secure, but also helps them lower their cost and be more efficient, which CFOs everywhere are asking about.

NYSC Floor Talk: Talk to me about the importance of seconds, even milliseconds, in cybersecurity. What’s the difference between real-time data and a small lag, and how is Tanium helping customers bridge that gap?

Dan Streetman: You’ve touched on a really important differentiator for Tanium. We are the world’s fastest platform. We continue to make enhancements that only make us faster. Let’s think about me being either a CIO or a chief information security officer, responding to threats or changes in my environment. Do I want to make those based on data that’s a few hours old?

Think of it like driving a car, whether it’s my windshield wipers sensing rain or my lane-changing advice. If any of that is 5, 10, or 15 minutes old, strictly my lane-changing advice, I’m in real trouble. What Tanium delivers is the power of real-time insights into my environment that can enhance my automated decisions. We call that autonomous endpoint management. And I can now see everything that’s happening across tens of millions of endpoints, give you insights into the operational impact of that, and then help you make the right and smart security decisions, again, all in real time based on data that is happening right now in your environment.

NYSC Floor Talk: All right, AI, everyone’s talking about AI. How is Tanium leveraging AI in its platform today, and how does that combat the threats that AI itself poses?

Dan Streetman: AI is based on two things: understanding large amounts of data and ingesting that and making smart decisions. Analytical AI or even generative AI are both based on that. But all of those engines need data and prompts. Where Tanium works with the largest AI and AI providers, is we provide the real-time insights that help them reach the right decisions. AI is going to enable bad actors. Our job is to help keep organizations secure and help them operate efficiently. We have to be very responsible in what we do. Bad actors, hackers, and malevolent actors, they only have to get it right one time. Our job is to give that power of certainty to IT operations and security professionals, so they know the change they’re going to make obviously solves a security issue but also helps them operate more effectively. And that’s something unique about real-time data. It enables you. You don’t want to make those important IT decisions sitting around a table wondering what’s going to happen. You want to know in real time what’s happening now.

NYSC Floor Talk: Tanium is well known for being an incredibly partner-friendly company, right? Tell me about some of your biggest partners and what you are accomplishing together.

Dan Streetman: I appreciate that you identify that. First and foremost, we’re partner-friendly because that’s what our customers need. We’re focused on customer outcomes. Our goal is to enable our customers to reach those outcomes more effectively and with less friction.

The best part about our partner ecosystem is it’s a lot like Tanium technology. It’s incredibly seamless. And the fact that we have great technology partnerships with Microsoft and ServiceNow, where our real-time data and operations help them improve their systems. That then flows seamlessly into our consulting and our systems delivery partners, who integrate but more importantly help deploy and optimize client investments, so they reach their business outcomes. I love our partner ecosystem. I think it’s incredibly powerful. That goes all the way back to my early time serving in the military, where I understand that alliances are the most powerful thing, we have to help make sure the right things happen. And so that’s key to what we do, but it all starts with what our customers need and what our partners can deliver.

NYSC Floor Talk: Now finally Dan, tell me what’s next for Tanium. What goals do you have for the company?

Dan Streetman: As we embark on autonomous endpoint management, we’re very excited. We’re here in New York hosting our first event of our Converge World Tour. We’ve got lots of customers who are going to be meeting right up the street, and we’re sharing our path to autonomous endpoint management. We see the ability of Tanium to help organizations streamline systems, replace old legacy things they brought in to solve one problem, and instead have a platform that delivers them that power of certainty. We’re excited about the future and we’re embarking on that this week as a matter of fact.

NYSC Floor Talk: Wonderful to talk with you Dan, thanks for joining me in Floor Talk.

Dan Streetman: Thanks very much for helping us share our story.