Comprehensive software reviews to make better IT decisions

RSA Archer Among Other RSA Products Sold to Symphony Technology Group

RSA Archer, a leader in the governance, risk, and compliance space has been acquired by Symphony Technology Group, based in Palo Alto, California. Symphony, a private equity firm, has investments in a cross section of companies in the analytics space, HR and recruitment, and supply chain among many others.

Jeff Clarke, COO, Dell, announced on February 18, 2020 that in a move to “further simplify our business and product portfolio” it was selling its RSA arm including the RSA Conference, RSA Archer, RSA NetWitness Platform, RSA SecureID, RSA Fraud, and Risk Intelligence.

Source: SoftwareReviews Governance, Risk and Compliance, Accessed March 23, 2020

In an announcement by Rohit Ghai, President, RSA, on February 18, 2020, the move provides the following opportunities:

• Allows RSA to leverage private equity banking to grow its business.
• Partners with an organization aligned with RSA’s commitment to customer and partner base.
• Is an opportunity to enhance usage of its talent and experience.
• Accelerates innovation in the proposed, more independent configuration.

Source: Our Next Episode, RSA blog Feb. 2020

Our Take

RSA Archer, a long-held leader in large and mid-sized GRC rollouts, has lost traction in recent years with increased competition in the GRC tool space and as a result of the competitiveness of the cloud SaaS (Software as a Solution) model. As of February 12, 2020, RSA Archer announced the availability of its SaaS suite in the cloud. No announcement has been made yet, however, existing RSA Archer clients are expected to have the option to migrate to the SaaS platform or remain on premises, providing options to review existing services and modules needed.

In moving to a more independent position within a private equity portfolio, it is clear that RSA is looking to take control over its role in the market and chart its future. It is not yet clear whether significant changes to its product are in store, however, this move to the SaaS model offers the traditional benefits of a quicker time to value, scalability of the cloud, faster access to latest feature set, and operating resilience.