Dive Brief:
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Samsung Electronics announced Friday Terry Halvorsen, former CIO at the U.S. Department of Defense, will join the company as an executive vice president, according to Korea IT Times.
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Halvorsen’s role at Samsung will focus on expanding the company’s B2B efforts and improving mobile security. Samsung is hoping to draw on Halvorsen's industry knowledge to meet business, end users and partner demands "without sacrificing security," said JK Shin, president and CEO of IT and mobile communications at Samsung Electronics.
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Halvorsen retired from government service in February. Prior to his tenure as the DOD CIO, he served as CIO for the Department of the Navy.
Dive Insight:
Samsung is not known for its enterprise business, but it’s looking to put more efforts into its B2B services. Before the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, Samsung touted the phone’s enterprise-friendly features, including an iris scanner and enough power to enable to work as a "productivity tool" for the enterprise.
Since the Galaxy Note 7 phones were recalled because of battery concerns, the working company has worked feverishly to repair its image. Hiring Halvorsen and focusing on the enterprise market while enabling a more mobile, yet secure, workforce may help it get there.
Prior to the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, Samsung was the top smartphone vendor, with 20% market share as of the third quarter of 2016, followed by Apple, with 12.5% market share. Though it was knocked by the recall, the smartphone maker could maintain its reign with the coming release of the Galaxy S8.
