How cyber security startup Pirean makes digital experiences human

When Guillaume (Gui) Noé, General Manager of Pirean Australia tells a story his whole face lights up.

Perhaps it’s the French accent. Perhaps it’s his self-professed geek love for cyber security and privacy.

Needless to say, it’s an interesting occasion to listen to the enthusiastic naturalised French-Australian. Even when he’s describing a bad experience with online banking.

How disappointment kickstarted a company

“When I immigrated to Australia in 2002, I spent four years prior living in Portugal, where my online banking experience was top notch. Then I came to Australia and was disappointed,” he laughs.

“The Portuguese government had just implemented a series of digital transformation strategies that enabled a richer digital experience, which permeated into the private sector. It was government-led innovation.”

“Australia, in my humble opinion, was the opposite. The private sector led, and the government followed.”

The experience left him with the conclusion that Australia’s online banks, at least in 2002, “did not feel right”.

“I was confronted by a feeling. Not just from a security point of view, but from an overall digital experience: how things looked, how things were organised, how things flowed from one state to another.”

“Australian online banking presented a heavy friction of registration and identification. It was not user-friendly, refined or customer-centric. It also did not look as nice!”

So he set out to change this with his cyber company Pirean.

How Pirean improves the banking experience

When you're building a service that people use daily, like online banking, the most important thing is how users experience it.

Gui Noé, now the General Manager of Pirean and the creator of their Identity Access Management (IAM) platform, Access: One, believes that digital experiences live or die by how users interact with them.

"Our job is to provide a secure connection that is safe, compliant, and fosters a good user experience," says Gui.

But you can't solve everything at once. Like any good product, IAM has specific focus areas. Gui is clear about where Pirean excels: Consumer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) and Enterprise Identity and Access Management (EIAM).

CIAM is all about making security seamless. The trick isn’t just securing customer data but doing it in a way that doesn’t frustrate them.

As Gui explains: “more often than not, our clients seek to provide their clients with secure and convenient access to their system, and this access can come in many forms. Maybe you prefer to reset a password, choose no password or use face identification.” It’s security, but without the friction.

Then there’s EIAM, which is like the engine room of a large enterprise. It’s about controlling who has access to what across an entire organisation.

Compliance matters more here. Companies need to know that their systems meet regulations, security policies, and management expectations.

As Gui puts it: "we provide functions that help verify, provision, and enforce access control policies.It’s a means to control who can do what,” he continues.

At its core, it’s about simplifying a complex problem: ensuring the right people have the right access without getting in their way. And that’s what makes Pirean’s approach work—solving the problem of security without sacrificing usability.

Lessons from a community of innovation

Gui speaks highly of Pirean being based at Australia’s leading innovation hub, Stone & Chalk.

“Personally, I have found Stone & Chalk a place of inspiration and energy. I enjoy being here. Our team enjoys being here,” says Gui.

“The hub has facilitated significant partnerships and opportunities which have led to extremely valuable relationships.”

“We’ve built further visibility for our brand and even won business with a well-known financial organisation during a speed-business dating event organised by Stone & Chalk.”

“Perhaps, one of my most memorable moments at Stone & Chalk includes ringing the ceremonial bell in front of fellow chalkers after our first big win.”

Gui continues, “our focus at Pirean is towards connecting people with technology.”

Big wins for Pirean

A big win for Pirean was being acquired by Exostar in September 2018, with the US based company recognising the problem-solving capabilities the platform offers in digital identity and access management.

The acquisition allows Pirean access to industries that are highly regulated yet market rich, with the opportunity to widen its industry penetration within Exostar’s existing client base.

With hopes of once again hearing the bell chime in 2019, Gui will be gearing up to take Access: One global, with new offices opening in the USA alongside their headquarters in London, UK and their residency at Stone & Chalk, in Sydney, Australia.