Set it and forget with our SteelCloud Customer Support team.
You go into customer support when you’re an experienced s
ecurity engineer who works well with people and loves to solve problems. As SteelCloud’s Vice President of Customer Service, Brian Walker has found his niche. Under his command, SteelCloud provides stellar customer support, helping users navigate our software, troubleshoot their issues, fix glitches, and work effectively and efficiently using our cybersecurity compliance automation solution, ConfigOS.
We recently sat down with Brian and got his take on what’s happening in the cybersecurity world and what’s next for customer support at SteelCloud. Here’s what he had to say.
What’s top of mind in the cybersecurity sector regarding customer support?
Right now, a preference for minimum touch points is happening across the industry. There seems to be a generational shift from interacting with human beings to interacting through chatbots. But customers still want options, so you make as many venues as possible available for support—call center, portal, and chatbots. We also have people who proactively reach out to clients before they have issues. But the trend is to have as few touchpoints as possible and a self-service option to get support without engaging a human.
How is customer support changing at SteelCloud?
Perhaps the most significant change is that we are taking our own medicine. We are automating parts of our service using Jira Software to enable customers (especially the ones who prefer not to interact with support team members) to help themselves and manage their tickets. Let’s say a customer has an enhancement request. Now they can tell the chatbot their issue; as they are typing, the knowledge base will provide information before a ticket is submitted. Then if further help is needed, they can submit and track the ticket as it moves through the company from support to QA to development.
As clients begin to scale, how important is customer support?
Customer support is critical for client scaling. Almost every software product is renewal based. ConfigOS must work in the customers’ environment, or they will not get the benefit and will not renew. So, it’s critical to help make sure their goals are achieved. ConfigOS is easy to use but often deployed in complex environments. We will help create scripts to tailor ConfigOS to their environment. They get a set-it-and-forget-it product specific to their needs, and we get a renewal. It’s a win-win.
This kind of interaction is critical, by the way. Human beings can think like detectives. If you can figure out why that endpoint is never compliant and fix it, the user is now freer. With the additional latitude they get from an automated solution, they are freer to do the detective work.
How do you act on recommendations and feedback?
Let’s preface this by saying we don’t want to end up like Walmart with a bottomless suggestion box. We want customers to know we take their suggestions seriously. We have our product manager talk to them. We will coordinate with sales. And we will integrate the change into the product. We want enhancements that are beneficial to everyone. We use Agile methodology for our process, breaking sprints into tasks and integrating changes quickly.
Are there any shortcuts you recommend for dealing with STIG and CIS benchmarks?
Of course, the best shortcut is automation. And ConfigOS is the best because it is a complete, easy-to-configure-and-use, set-it-and-forget-it solution. But the top hack that ConfigOS pulls off is how once configured, it replicates your expertise throughout the organization. Every iteration is a reflection of you and the specificities of your system.
When it comes to making lightbulbs go off in customers’ heads, the best ConfigOS hack is installing it and remediating something. Not that long ago, we had a two-hour meeting with a prospect. Like many we talk to, they had been burned by automation software before and were very skeptical of us. So, without warning, they brought two servers to the meeting, plopped them on the conference room table, and challenged us to STIG them while we were there. We did. They saw the immediate impact it makes on their system. And they are now customers.
What’s next at SteelCloud?
We are intensifying our work around CIS standards with a full-time employee releasing new content weekly. We are also busy with enhancement on self-service, creating training videos, and getting RFPs that will be critical to its success.
Finally, what excites you about your job?
I love to solve problems. I like puzzles and Sudoku and challenges like that. And customer support offers a constant supply of new mysteries to solve. It gives you fine-tuned understanding of the product and the industry. It’s like being an explorer and breaking new ground in security. There are so many aspects of what I do that speak to my passions. It’s well suited to me and, I hope, visa versa.
When Brian is not attending to customer service needs, you’ll find him on his farmette in the Shenandoah Valley, attending to his wife, two sons, two dogs, a rabbit, geese, chickens, apple trees, and berries. He commutes over an hour in each direction, giving him time to either prepare for the day ahead or shift into home life for the kind of work/life balance that makes SteelCloud a great place to work.
To learn more about Brian, click here or read his LinkedIn profile.
