Crommunity Round-Up: Exploring the marketing activities ofKitchener-Waterloo's technology companies
  • 01
  • July

Crommunity Round-Up: June 2021

Wow, OK, things really got out of hand in June: product launches, new websites, terrific content…KW’s companies were busy!

Need to catch up? Check out past Round-Ups

— — —

ISARA simplifies cryptographic management

ISARA unveiled their Advance® Crypto Agility Suite, a cryptographic management platform that reveals blind spots, surfaces actions, and equips enterprises to act.

While ISARA is known as a world leader in quantum-safe security, they have tremendous expertise in public key cryptography. Recognizing that basically every enterprise in the world struggles to manage their crypto assets, the team developed the Advance platform to address this error prone and operationally expensive cybersecurity challenge.

In addition to an overview infosheet (always a good idea to have at launch!), the fine folks at ISARA also provided a deeper dive product page that includes:

  • A short video
  • Explanations of what Advance does and why that’s valuable, beyond what’s included in the overview PDF
  • Answers to FAQs

Remember, launching a product is waaaaay more than just issuing a press release. You need to be ready to capitalize on the attention by tapping into the market’s curiosity and proactively providing information.

If you’re wondering what the big deal is about cryptographic agility or want to understand why quantum computers pose such a generational threat against—well, against an awful lot of things we take for granted—then you should check out ISARA’s primer, Managing Cryptographic and Quantum Risk: A non-technical and hype-free explanation of what’s at risk, what you can do, and why you should act now. I dissected the guide a little bit in, ISARA grows awareness and demand with educational content.

eSentire extends into Incident Response (IR)

Here’s another terrific example of how to make a splash.

Mid-month, eSentire announced an extension of their core response capabilities deeper into the incident lifecycle. They’re already global leaders on the prevention end of things (Managed Detection and Response, or MDR), but one of the realities of cybersecurity is that a sufficiently motivated and skilled threat actor will break through, at some point—Incident Response (IR) focuses on understanding and investigating security incidents, limiting their effects, assisting with recovery efforts and ensuring your organization is better prepared for the future.

After a business discovers a cybersecurity incident, every moment counts—and eSentire is aiming to disrupt the market by offering a “4 Hour Threat Suppression SLA” anywhere in the world. In a market where a 24-hour turnaround to even get started is the norm, suppressing a threat in only four hours is a bold differentiator.

eSentire supported the announcement with a number of content assets:

And all that effort seems to have been worth it, as the market has taken notice: eSentire’s brand new service is already being discussed alongside the market heavyweights.

Beyond the KW bubble

In this new section, I’ll highlight neat things from companies outside of KW…because the world is big and we can (and should) learn from as many sources as possible.

A great example of data-driven thought leadership

First up, if you’re looking for a terrific example of a piece of data-driven thought leadership, then look no further than Auth0’s The State of Secure Identity. This easy-to-read, data-driven report—powered by Auth0’s own observations, but also citing an assortment of third-party information—is an exposition of threats against consumer identity and access management (CIAM) services.

There’s so much I like about this report, from the clear language and readability, to the concrete tips and recommendations, to the non-promotional nature, to the inclusion of a personal Foreword and Afterword (both of which neatly summarize why identity security is so important) from members of Auth0’s security engineering and threat intelligence teams. In a zero-trust world, identity is trust.

Auth0’s in the midst of explosive growth—if you’d like some insights into what’s behind that growth and the problems you run into when you’re scaling so quickly, then check out my recent Q&A with Auth0’s VP, Product (Cassio Sampaio)

Want to build trust? Proactively address questions about data security and privacy

Cloud applications: you’ve heard of them, you use them, your business utterly depends on them. And you assume all that data you’ve got in them will always be there. Well, your trust might be is definitely misplaced—because, as it happens, truly backing up your cloud data (e.g., for disaster recovery and business continuity) is actually your responsibility, not the cloud providers’. Enter Keepit, a Denmark-based company that fills the back-up gap by integrating with different cloud platforms to allow businesses to reliably and securely back up and restore their data.

Needless to say, if you’re going to entrust a huge chunk of your business continuity plan to a third party, you want to know that you can trust them. Enter Keepit’s new E-Guide, Leading SaaS Data Security: Raising the Bar for Data Protection in the Cloud Era.

Some companies might not look at this type of asset as a marketing tool; those companies are wrong.

A guide like this one is an ultra-efficient way for to answer a long list of questions prospects will likely ask while performing their technical due diligence. If you want to scale your company, then you can’t have your CTO or Architect engage directly with every prospect, and this type of asset frees up their time while also avoiding the inevitable mistakes and misunderstandings that come if other members of team try to answer very detailed technical questions. Plus, these assets can also showcase the value of your capabilities while making life miserable for competitors (because prospects will ask them, “Well, if they’re so transparent about their solution, why aren’t you?”).

And they can serve very well as top-of-funnel assets, because they educate about important issues and common misconceptions.

Finally, this type of thing makes it easy for your champions to build support for your solution—remember, you’re not in the room or on the call the vast majority of times your solution is being discussed. Providing clear, correct, consistent information is a great way to overcome buying barriers.

So yeah, you should consider creating something like Keepit’s guide (or this one, Auth0 Platform Safety).

Bits and bytes

Here are a few other June notables:

  • Dejero published a terrific new “gateway” asset, Bonded Cellular and Beyond: What is it, what is it used for, is it still relevant in a 5G world, and is it enough? [page | PDF]; this piece provides a non-technical explanation of the need for, and shortcomings of, cellular bonding (combining two or more cellular connections)—it’s a “gateway” asset that taps into existing market curiosity and knowledge to introduce Dejero’s capabilities and technologies, and that point readers to additional, deeper-funnel assets
  • Cavelo launched their Discover Platform, which helps IT administrators and compliance professionals manage sensitive data and align to data protection requirements; as data breaches and double-extortion ransomware tactics continue to wreak havoc, knowing where your data resides will become important elements of cybersecurity and compliance strategies
  • DarwinAI launched a new website, with completely new messaging primarily focused on the manufacturing sector and a collection of new case studies and success stories
  • ProNavigator unveiled a new website and tight messaging built entirely around their Sage product
  • In addition to unveiling their new IR capabilities, eSentire also debuted new messaging on a brand new website

— — —

Aaaand that’s a wrap.

If you want to nominate something for inclusion in the July round-up, then hit me up.