At Manchester Digital, we regularly shine a light on our members to understand more about their roles and their work within Greater Manchester’s digital and technology community. This week, we’re speaking with Matthew Francis, Key Account Manager at Novacoast.
For those who don’t know you yet, who are Novacoast and what role do you play in the cybersecurity landscape?
Novacoast is a global cybersecurity services and solutions provider with over 29 years of experience helping organisations stay secure in an increasingly complex threat landscape. We combine consulting, engineering, managed security services, and product development to deliver practical, business-focused cyber security.
Our role in the cybersecurity ecosystem is to bridge the gap between strategy and execution. We don’t just advise — we implement, manage, and continuously optimise security programmes. Through our 24/7 Security Operations Centre (SOC), identity and access management services, risk and compliance expertise, and vendor partnerships, we act as a long-term security partner rather than a one-off provider.
Which sectors do you primarily work with, and what kinds of cybersecurity challenges are you helping organisations to solve?
We work across a wide range of sectors, with particular strength in healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing, local government, and other regulated industries.
Common challenges we help organisations address include:
- Managing increasing ransomware and phishing threats
- Protecting identity and access across hybrid and cloud environments
- Meeting regulatory and compliance requirements
- Modernising legacy security infrastructure
- Filling internal cyber skills gaps
- Improving incident detection and response maturity
Many organisations are balancing digital transformation with growing threat exposure. Our role is to ensure that innovation happens securely, without slowing the business down.
How does your 24/7 SOC and service-led model help SMEs and regulated industries stay secure while they focus on growing their business?
For many SMEs and regulated organisations, building and staffing a full 24/7 in-house SOC simply isn’t realistic. That’s where our service-led model comes in.
Our 24/7 SOC provides continuous monitoring, threat detection, and incident response, delivering enterprise-grade security without the overhead of building it internally. We combine technology with experienced analysts who understand not just alerts, but business context — reducing false positives and accelerating response times.
Beyond monitoring, our service-led approach means we act as an extension of the internal team. We provide strategic guidance, help prioritise risk, support compliance audits, and continually refine security posture. This allows organisations to focus on growth and innovation, knowing their cyber resilience is being actively managed.
You’ve mentioned programmes for veterans and visually impaired people – how is Novacoast using these initiatives to drive greater diversity and inclusion in cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity faces a well-known talent shortage, and the industry doesn’t yet fully reflect the diversity of the communities it serves.
At Novacoast, we’re committed to opening doors through structured programmes for veterans and blind and visually impaired individuals who are looking to build careers in cybersecurity.
We’ve developed tailored training, mentorship, and pathway opportunities that recognise the valuable skills veterans bring, while also ensuring our roles, tools, and environments are accessible and inclusive. The goal is simple: remove unnecessary barriers and create clear routes into cyber for capable people from different backgrounds.
By widening the talent pipeline, we’re not just addressing a skills gap — we’re strengthening the future of the industry and opening doors for cyber talent from all backgrounds.
Why is being part of Manchester’s digital and tech ecosystem important to Novacoast, and what are you hoping to contribute to the community here?
Manchester is one of the UK’s most dynamic and fast-growing digital hubs. Its mix of established enterprises, innovative start-ups, universities, and public sector organisations creates a collaborative environment where technology and business transformation thrive.
Being part of Manchester Digital allows us to engage more directly with that community — sharing knowledge, contributing to regional cyber resilience, and supporting organisations that are scaling rapidly.
We hope to contribute practical cybersecurity expertise, thought leadership, skills development initiatives, and collaborative partnerships. Ultimately, we want to help make Manchester not just a digital leader, but a secure one.
Looking ahead, what opportunities or trends in cybersecurity are you most excited to explore with other Manchester Digital members?
We’re particularly excited about the expanding role of AI across cybersecurity. While AI is transforming how organisations detect and respond to threats, its potential goes much further.
We see strong opportunities to use AI to scale security operations, improve analyst productivity, reduce response times, and deliver more proactive insight to clients. When implemented responsibly, AI enables teams to focus on higher-value investigation and strategy, rather than repetitive manual tasks.
We’re also seeing continued momentum around Zero Trust architectures, identity-first security strategies, cloud security, and supply chain risk management — especially as regulatory expectations increase.
Collaborating with Manchester Digital members gives us the opportunity to explore these innovations together, share best practice, and help ensure that growth and digital transformation across the region is secure, resilient, and sustainable.
Thank you Matthew!
To find out more about Novacoast, click here.
