A Closer Look: Apline Access, Denver, Colorado

  PM Network  

IT security at Alpine Access is a balancing act. Because the call center services outsourcer uses agents who work from home, the security team must constantly negotiate with the operations group to make sure the systems they develop are secure while still providing service reps the access they need.

“Security initiatives are often in opposition to operations initiatives,” says Michael Kleck, chief information security officer and director of IT infrastructure for Alpine Access. “We need to tightly control every piece of information that moves through our system, and operations wants to make it move faster.”

Those work-from-home employees create a complex and challenging security environment. “We’ve got people all over the United States, and I have to control all the information that comes in and out of their home offices,” he says.

With every new initiative, he has to figure out ways to create a secure network that gives service reps access to sensitive data from their home computers without jeopardizing confidentiality or the safety of end users’ personal data.

And operations insists he be quick about it.

“When we launch a new project, we are always under the gun,” Mr. Kleck says. “The goal is to get the system up and running quickly, but security tends to slow everything down.”

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