Don’t Sign Multi-Year Contracts Attached to Products
By Chris Nyhuis, Vigilant CEO
A Vigilant Value Series
In almost all industries, it is so easy to slip into lazy habits. Trendsetting companies are the ones that refuse to listen to “it’s always been done that way.” Think of companies like Amazon, Carvana, LYFT, Netflix, Salesforce and Grubhub. They looked at the “always been done” way and said instead, “there is a better way.”
In cybersecurity, the “always been done” way is to sell multi-year contracts that are attached to a security PRODUCT. But what happens when that particular product becomes outdated or when your company goes through a massive transformation?
A Vigilant contract is attached to our ever-present, collaborative, client-security-first SERVICE, not to individual security tools. You don’t want your contractional covenant attached to a tool because security technology changes too quickly, the threats are ever-evolving and so the PRODUCTS, in time, can become more and more ineffective. Vigilant takes care of the data integration so we can be tool agnostic… and client specific.
Let me explain more…
Vigilant enables our clients to be agile by protecting them from prolonged commitments to tools. A client recently reached out to us, a major retailer, regarding their Endpoint Security solutions. They had been using an endpoint tool that is used by 86% or the Fortune 100 and had worked reasonably well. But we had questions, so we looked deep into their system and performed a fresh security analysis, specifically looking at effectiveness TODAY, not a few years ago when this endpoint tool had originally been integrated. This major retailer has significantly grown its footprint, now with over 100 stores. We looked at their specific POS systems, case studies on their environments’ current uses and re-reassessed their evolving threat landscape (in harmony with our constant detect, assess and present process of service.)
We determined that this particular company, at this particular time, would be better protected by a different endpoint tool. AND since this client was with VIGILANT and the contract was with our service, NOT the tools, we were able to switch them over, and quickly integrate their entire network into the new tool.
This is one of Vigilant’s superpowers: keeping clients nimble. It is scary to think how many companies are locked into less effective or even outdated tools.
Security research firms like Forrester and Gartner, make powerful assessments about the current state of the global threat landscape and the solutions therein, however that research is generalized and not client specific. Our healthcare clients have different needs than retail, or defense or manufacturing or financial services (and within each industry, companies have variable needs.) In this security environment, WE MUST BE AGILE for and with our clients.