A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JENS BERTELSEN

Give us a quick introduction about you:

My name is Jens Bertelsen, native Danish and working in the IT industry for 25 years within global companies like Siemens, ADP Dealership, Region South Denmark and Teradata. I’m a certified Lead Auditor in ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 and have in-depth knowledge of Quality and Information Security and especially in connection with ISO 27001, IEC 62443 and Cybersecurity in critical sectors.

Based on both private and public companies, I have broad experience in implementing quality assurance, cyber security, management systems, GDPR and data infrastructure. I am passionate about delivering inspiring coaching, where high professionalism is combined with practical experience and - a twinkle in the eye.

In a few words, could you describe your career path?

In Bureau Veritas Nordic I have a central role in developing and deliver Cyber security services and training, related to all sectors, including the critical sectors in the BV client portfolio. I joined BV after a period where I had worked for many years with the implementation of management systems according to ISO and other framework standards. Partly as a consultant in-house in sectors like healthcare and energy, but also partly as an external consultant based on my own consultancy.

I missed a place where I could use my skills as a development consultant, as a high-level business advisor, and where I could kind of go into the field between business understanding and Cyber and IT. I found the connection here at BV and together we have started a journey to assist customers and partners to achieve stronger and more secure IT system landscapes based on business needs and understanding.

How is your working routine?

• I'm a quiet starter so the alarm clock doesn't ring until 6:30 am and I get up along with my girlfriend. I spend some time in the morning sitting with some breakfast and a cup of coffee and otherwise just pondering the day. Maybe browsers just as quickly over the incoming emails and calendars, but otherwise I spend the time reflecting on and listening to the local news on the radio.
• Towards 8 o'clock, I drive to work. If it's an office day, well, I have a little way to go, but usually, I arrive at the office around 8:45. If, on the other hand, the day is a meeting day with many client/team meetings or writing work, I choose the home office instead. Bureau Veritas is a workplace where I have good opportunities to influence functions and tasks in everyday life, and where we, together with our small team, independently organize the day's tasks and work environment. It also does happen that we are out of the house for either physical customer meetings, fairs or events and those days naturally have a completely different rhythm. Especially if it includes travel and hotel accommodation.
• At 12.00 o'clock lunch, we always go together as a team. Buffet as always and many times with talk and questions related to customer cases, tasks, new legislation or the latest cyber hack from the news. A great opportunity to make an impression on colleagues and feel the mood and perspectives of others. I often take the opportunity to discuss current issues with other professional groups, such as our skilled audit corps.
• In the afternoon I am fresh and now I start some of the larger tasks - for example, it can be a customer presentation for a meeting later in the week, a teaching slide deck for a new course, or a gap analysis report that needs to be finished for a customer. If the day goes really well, time and place disappear, and my flow can easily go all the way between 5 pm and 6 pm before my manager looks into the office and just wants to have a chat about the latest developments. At this time of day, most other colleagues have gone home or moved on to other chores, so now there is peace for a good and honest talk without interruptions.
• A few days a week I have evenings for sports and leisure in nature. Taking a trip with the kayak and a few good friends is always appreciated. On other evenings we hold a food club with the family and gather for chat and fun. So now the day's tasks are parked, so it's time for recovery.

What do you enjoy most about working in the cybersecurity market?

The challenge. The complexity and level of knowledge to be communicated. You have to understand that there are a lot of parameters associated with the concept of Cybersecurity. Partly it is a virtual world where it is quite simple to overlook dependencies and what I call "bonds". They occur in everything from engineering and human capabilities to decisions in business and finance. Addictions, bonds, and decisions may be made far before their effect has turned into a risk. And then partly it is a world where risk and devastating effects are becoming more and more apparent. So here the challenge is natural to do my part to make businesses and workers resilient and ready to counter these threats.

What are the biggest challenges in the cybersecurity market and how BV Certification can Support clients?

We usually joke that BV is the world's largest unknown TIC company. And very few companies know what TIC stands for, so... It's a huge challenge! As an example, we participated in the national largest trade fair two years ago, and we were the only TIC company among hundreds of companies in the IT industry. Now, 2 years later, at the upcoming trade fair in May, we are 2 TIC companies. Our biggest competitor in the market is also participating now after 2 years. But it is a big problem that our services in general in the TIC industry as well as our knowledge of how companies show their level of implementation and maturity are not better and more integrated into the consciousness of companies.

If we look at our testing and inspection services, we have a lot of them, they are strong and the right ones, but it's easy to get lost in the many services and companies typically don't know what to do with them. BV's typical standard approach is to go in with some kind of gap analysis or similar assessment to show where the customer is today in the assessment area. The problem then is that:

1. the customer typically has an entire portfolio of assessments from different companies, with virtually identical conclusions to the one we make, and...
2. ...they don't have a roadmap or help to implement the changes. We'll in BV come back when/if the customer wants to get certified. But worse, we'll let them go in the meantime. Some of those customers aren't coming back and BV stays invisible.

To close this gap in our supply model and be more visible and accessible, we are currently working at Nordic on partner models with knowledge companies that can engage along with BV in these complex customer engagements. An example of a knowledge Cybersecurity company in such a partnership model is BV Secura in the Netherlands.

What would you say to someone considering a career at BV and in Cybersecurity?

When can you start? We have almost endless possibilities and you can go in exactly the direction you want. If you are a junior, we will find a study programme that suits you and your abilities, if you are a senior and have many years on your CV, then together we can tailor your future position in BV.

In the EU alone in the next 7 years, 20 million will be trained and employed as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) specialists, with convergence between women and men, and a large part of these in Cyber and cloud technologies. We at BV will have to fight really hard to get these onboard, but it is worth the fight because the TIC industry will be an even more important and valuable player in the years to come.