Accenture’s Donal Óg McCarthy discusses team building in a competitive environment and the challenges of the cyber landscape.
As Accenture leads cybersecurity in Ireland, Donal Óg McCarthy’s responsibilities touch on several key areas, such as the growth and performance of the security business, customer focus and the creation of a rewarding work environment for the organization’s people.
“I also have other responsibilities in our European and global business that allow me to bring knowledge and experience from around the world to our clients here in Ireland,” McCarthy told SiliconRepublic.com. “I really enjoy that diversity and given the global nature of today’s threat to Irish customers, I believe this external perspective is important.”
He added, “These days I see myself as an architect, bringing together knowledge and expertise across Accenture and our ecosystem partners to answer our clients’ challenging questions.”
As someone with experience in leadership, how did you develop the skills needed to lead others in the online environment?
I have been fortunate to develop my leadership skills through many different roles and through the guidance of other exceptional mentors along the way. I started my career at an organization in Galway called Nortel Networks. One of the first things I had to learn as a graduate was how to work directly with and present to our clients. That experience, along with the technical basics I learned in the graduate program, has really shaped my entire career since then. It is very important to get those career basics in place early.
Since then, I have worked in various roles in the UK, Australia and the US. When I returned to Ireland, I moved into the consulting side. This ever-changing landscape is something that I found very attractive and that is why I enjoy working at Accenture. I’ve had three different roles over the past six years at Accenture, all focused on building new businesses. If I hear an interesting idea or opportunity, I’m happy to jump right in and get the details along the way. Although that adds a nice pressure factor, I like it.
How important is it to invest in career development across teams?
I don’t believe you can have a highly skilled workforce without a relentless focus on both learning and fun. Being happy is really important. While each of us has things we need to know to be effective within our organization, learning more should make sense to you as a person and what you want to achieve. I spend a lot of time with my colleagues making these learning methods for everyone to choose, while making sure that in the end all these skills together are what we need to run and grow our business.
We’re lucky at Accenture to have our Udacity learning platform, where everyone has access to an endless amount of learning not just in cyber security. We also have a strong focus on basic learning materials, which we call TQ or tech quotient. These are bite-sized learning modules on everything from agent AI to quantum computing.
What are some of the challenges of a career in the security sector?
While a career in cybersecurity is extremely rewarding, it certainly comes with challenges. The lack of skills in this field puts a lot of pressure on existing leaders and their teams. We can see this leads to heavy workload and if you mix this with individuals responding to an incident, for example, it can contribute to high levels of stress and the risk of burnout. Incident response is a good example of where structure and support are important. Clearing the rotas and ascending models is essential. Often the same people end up getting the call and in busy teams this adds to the risk of burnout. I spend a lot of time with teams to model the importance of flexibility, shared responsibility, and support from senior leadership after a cyberattack. Many incidents can last longer than we originally anticipated, so this planning means that if an incident does occur, we have a more organized response that includes prioritizing the well-being and recovery of the team.
How can skilled and trained teams meet the challenges of the modern cybersecurity environment?
It is clear that we are operating in a constantly changing and threatening environment. Political instability, stemming from the turmoil in Europe and wars in the Middle East, has driven business resilience and cybersecurity across organizations. It can be challenging when you are looking at multiple sources of threat intelligence to identify those areas that are most important. However, there are a few practical steps that can make a real difference. The first is to stay close to partners who understand your business and get their support, especially when the industry-specific narrative is important, for example in the case of critical national infrastructure. The second is to maintain strong engagement in your security community and keep those lines of communication open. In a connected chain, we all depend on each other so this relationship will matter and be very important.
How can sector leaders have a positive impact on career development?
Leaders in the security sector have an important role to play in shaping future talent and the sustainability of the profession itself. Having a positive impact on both career development and innovation requires purposeful leadership across people, cultures, and ways of working. In today’s world of cybersecurity, there are many jobs and it is important that we provide opportunities to our teams ensuring that they can develop, specialize, or expand their knowledge. The security approach of the future is one that focuses on business transformation and is able to adapt to changing business needs.
Do you have any predictions for how the cybersecurity landscape might evolve in 2026?
Unfortunately, we can expect to see a continued increase in AI-powered attacks across the industry by 2026. Global political tensions will continue to pose threats to Europe and Ireland. Our incoming EU Presidency may focus these efforts on organizations based here in Ireland, particularly those managing critical national infrastructure. The good news is that cybersecurity has never been a priority for Ireland Inc, or for organizations operating here. We are seeing the modernization of the Internet and increasing investment in security across the industry. With this increased investment and focus we must continue to simplify our security posture to understand what we have in our environment, identify those threats early, and continue to strengthen those modern security capabilities. All of us in cyber security play a role in strengthening Ireland’s national internet and that responsibility has never been more important.
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