Can you help us achieve Cyber Essentials Plus in record time?
Cyber Essentials Plus is a framework providing businesses with a good level of protection from common cyber-attacks. Gaining certification is a way of ensuring key vulnerabilities have been identified and covered, which provides evidence that you are a safe organisation to do business with.
Last year, we received an enquiry from the UK operation of a global business, who specialise in data centre, Design, Build and Management. They had a major new client in the pipeline, yet the deal depended on them achieving Cyber Essentials Plus. They needed us to review current provisions, identify gaps, advise on solutions and guide them through the certification process. We can certainly assist with that!
In this case, we had started the work several years before. Jamie had visited the company for a discovery meeting and identified some initial areas for improvement. Then Covid hit and we heard nothing more. Now they were back in touch and needed us to step up and hit the ground running.
A 4-way Partnership to Enhance IT Security
Reviewing the situation, it was clear that some minor improvements had been made since the previous meeting. However, there were some gaps to fill. IT support in the UK was being undertaken by a non-specialist as a sideline to their main role. This was largely reactive; sorting out issues, managing updates and putting things in place as they were needed. Bigger issues were handled remotely by the Australian IT team in Head Office.
To meet the brief, there was a need for collaborative and proactive planning, then prompt implementation to prepare everything necessary for the CE Plus assessment. On their side, we needed to involve both the UK and Australian teams.
Our specialism is enhancing the physical network and endpoint security. However, the firm also needed Policies and documents to achieve Cyber Essentials certification. It was clear that they followed set processes, but these had not been formally documented or cross-checked. Policies aren’t just a formality, they ensure all employees understand information protection and on or off-boarding processes. They play a major role in reducing security risks.
To assist with this requirement, we called on the expertise of Peter Elliot from Empiric Partners. Peter is a trusted ally who has partnered with us on other projects and we knew he would be an asset.
We’ve Got Your Back
With the partnership established, we all set aside other work to focus on moving this forward at pace. Remote working technology enabled full collaboration to put everything in place for the Cyber Essentials assessment and technical verification. Unfortunately, that meant that Jamie’s hopes for a work trip to Australia didn’t materialise!
A Client Won
Fortunately, the concerted efforts of the partnership resulted in positive outcomes. Cyber Essentials Plus certification was achieved in time for the company to win their new client. Additionally, they feel confident that this widely recognised mark of IT security will be pivotal in gaining future business.
In a message to Peter and the Flex IT team, the Company Director commented:
“On behalf of the Directors, I would like to say a big thank you for getting us through this accreditation so smoothly and efficiently. We are very impressed with the timescales that you met. I look forward to working with you going forward and I would have no hesitation in recommending you and Jamie to my clients.”
But, that’s not the end of the story. Having worked intensively with us for this outcome, the company recognised that we were an experienced, competent and trustworthy team. Knowing that the current IT provision in the UK branch did not match their needs, they saw a benefit in extending our partnership.
We are delighted to say that we also won a client off the back of this project. Our team now provides fully managed IT systems and security support to the UK and Asia branches of this global firm. What’s more, the company are setting up a new UK office and we’re engaged in implementing the network requirements. Now we are focused on learning and growing together.
Read our case study on Achieving Cyber Essential Plus in Record Time to learn more about The Flex-IT Approach.