Selecting the right cybersecurity platform is more than just a technical decision. It’s a strategic one that will impact your organization’s overall resilience against threats. This choice demands a nuanced understanding of your specific needs, a collaborative approach to defining criteria, and a commitment to a partnership that will grow and adapt with your business over time.
Identify Your Needs
The process should begin with a critical evaluation of your current security posture; identify where the gaps lie. This will be specific to your organization, so be sure to collaborate with your team to outline specific criteria that your ideal cybersecurity platform must meet. This includes essential features like endpoint detection and response (EDR), support and managed services availability, and compliance with industry-specific frameworks or regulatory requirements. Before doing anything else, everyone should be on the same page about what you’re looking for and all criteria from interested parties internally should be gathered into a criteria evaluation spreadsheet that is utilized to compare vendors.
The Selection Process
Armed with a well-defined list of requirements, you can consult trusted industry resources such as Gartner and VARs (Value-Added Resellers) to identify potential vendors. During this phase, look for more than just technical specifications: assess the viability of the company, their compliance capabilities, and their support structure. Does the platform offer a “follow the sun” support model for around-the-clock assistance? How do they handle escalations? Do they require access to company data? These are critical questions that will help guide you and narrow down your choices. Have all vendors answer your requirements separately against their solution to evaluate on paper how they stack up to all of your requirements and keep in mind that most will not meet every requirement, but it is a good way to compare their solutions to what you are looking for before you get into demos.
The Courtship: Demos and Trials
Once you have a shortlist, it’s time to test. It’s a good idea to arrange demos with your top three to five vendors to get a more complete picture of how the product works. This hands-on experience allows you to see the platforms in action and evaluate their user interface, alert management, and overall workflow. This is also a good opportunity to validate the vendor responses to your criteria and requirements. During this stage, I highly recommend conducting ethical hacking scenarios to test how each system performs under attack.
Deepening the Relationship: Vetting and Decision Making
The decision-making process doesn’t end with demos. Delve deeper, request customer references, and check how vendors handle data security. Understanding their technological backbone and approach to innovation, like their roadmap and API integrations, will inform your final choice.
Commitment: Implementation and Beyond
After a vendor has been selected, the key is the implementation phase. Test extensively to ensure compatibility with existing systems, aim to avoid any operational disruptions or conflicts (no blue screens!). Discuss your infrastructure and applications you have running in your environment prior to implementation to determine if there are any inoperability or concerns that the vendor may need to consider from past experience with implementations or limitations known for their agent. Post-implementation, it’s about establishing and maintaining an open line of communication with the vendor, ensuring they keep you updated on new threats, updates, and future roadmap solutions.
Never Settle
Even after a successful rollout, the search never really ends. Cybersecurity is an evolving field, and staying informed about new developments and emerging technologies is crucial. As renewal periods approach, reassess the platform against newer options in the market to be confident that you’re with the best possible partner for you. The ideal outcome is a relationship with a vendor that not only fulfills your current security needs but also evolves in tandem with your organization and the broader threat landscape.