Whalebone Aura has been deployed across telco networks worldwide. The next step is ensuring customers activate, engage, and remain protected. That challenge is also an opportunity – and it was the focus of our 5th Telco Cybersecurity Conference in Munich.
Over two days, telco leaders and Whalebone experts shared strategies to remove friction, communicate value, and turn cybersecurity into a service customers embrace.
Opening the journey
Richard Malovic, CEO & Co-Founder of Whalebone, opened the event outlining our mission: to protect one billion people through user-centric cybersecurity. Mass-market security products are a major growth opportunity for telcos, with the market set to expand sharply within the next five years.
Kamila Janečková, Head of Service GTM & Growth at Whalebone, then showed how every stage of the customer journey – awareness, onboarding, trial, paid conversion, usage, and retention – creates both bottlenecks and opportunities.
Richard Malovic, CEO, Whalebone
Awareness: framing cybersecurity as value, not fear
Building awareness is the first step in the journey. Otto Kenga, Product Owner at LMT (Latvia), showed how campaigns resonate when they speak to everyday concerns rather than technical features. Security framed as value – not complexity – connects more easily with customers.
Milena Đorđević and Jovana Jovanović, Product Managers from A1 Serbia presented how sales enablement drives adoption. Their gamified training program equipped frontline staff with tools, confidence, and incentives. The approach accelerated activations significantly, proving that engaged sales teams are central to customer uptake.
Onboarding: the critical first week
Activation is only the start. Customers need to experience protection quickly if trials are to convert into paying users. Paul Miedl, Senior New Business Development & Special Projects Manager at O₂ Telefónica Germany, shared how the Onlineschutz journey ensures immediate value. Clear notifications when threats are blocked, accessible dashboards, and simple trial flows reduce drop-off and strengthen conversion.
Conversion challenges were also discussed in a panel moderated by Sahana Narasimhamoorthy, Product Experience Lead at Whalebone, joined by Ivar Tennokese (Elisa Eesti) and Luka Radunović (Mtel Montenegro). Their perspectives highlighted the importance of making onboarding straightforward and showing value early.
Paul Miedl, Senior New Business Development & Special Projects Manager, O₂ Telefónica Germany
Usage and retention: keeping value visible
Even the best onboarding will not sustain adoption without ongoing engagement. Ondřej Hrabal, Service GTM & Growth Lead at Whalebone, shared learnings from European deployments. His analysis showed that direct human interaction – retail and telesales – still drives the majority of sales. He also emphasized that benefit-driven, moment-based messaging consistently outperforms technical explanations.
Viliam Péli, Threat Intelligence Lead at Whalebone, added another dimension in a fireside chat on domain blocking. He explained how decisions on which domains to block shape both user experience and telco trust, underscoring the need for thoughtful threat intelligence policies.
Ondřej Hrabal, Service GTM & Growth Lead, Whalebone
Strategic perspectives
Broader strategy was a recurring theme.
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Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Enterprise Officer at O₂ Telefónica Germany, delivered a keynote speech, stressing that adoption is built on trust and customer engagement as much as technology.
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Mohit Kapoor, VP India at Whalebone, followed with “First principles story & consumer engagement in the digital world.” He drew lessons from India’s telecom sector, where simplified offers and bundled value unlocked mass adoption. His message was clear: design from the customer backward, not the product outward.
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Patricia Reig Tomasín, Head of Customer Success at Whalebone, examined bundling models. She compared soft bundles, hard bundles, and hybrid approaches, showing how positioning cybersecurity as a core proposition expands reach.
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A B2B panel explored enterprise and SME adoption, featuring Morten Heide Nielsen (TDC Erhverv, Denmark), and Asle Flottorp (Telia Group/Phonero, Norway). Their discussion highlighted the unique dynamics of B2B journeys.
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Kamila Janečková returned on Day 2 to present “Using End-Customer Insights to Improve the Journey.” She demonstrated how data from support, usage, and feedback can guide rapid improvements that strengthen retention.
Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Enterprise Officer, O₂ Telefónica Germany
Workshops, recognition, and closing
Hands-on working groups gave participants the chance to map customer journey bottlenecks and share solutions with peers.
The event closed with the Whalebone 2025 Annual Telco Awards, celebrating operators that have turned deployment into impact for their customers. More than awards, this moment reinforced the spirit of the conference: learning from peers, sharing what works, and raising the standard together.
Looking ahead
The 5th Telco Cybersecurity Conference demonstrated that the customer journey is where adoption succeeds or fails – and where the greatest opportunity lies. By sharing best practices and real-world deployments, the community is moving closer to a shared goal: making cybersecurity adoption seamless, sticky, and scalable.
Our conferences are a part of our Telco Cybersecurity Success Program. This program fosters collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and success in driving cybersecurity penetration across the telco industry. The conference was a key platform for sharing best practices, networking, and offering practical insights for achieving growth.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in this event, and we look forward to seeing you at the next conference!