Ep. 190 Inside the Win- Cybersecurity with Sumera Riaz and Trevor Burnside

This episode of Inside the Win features VP of Cybersecurity Sumara Riaz and Solutions Architect Trevor Burnside discussing a successful cybersecurity partnership with a life science company. The client, with fewer than 200 employees and a lean IT team, was seeking cybersecurity solutions as they prepared to go public after receiving funding. The tech adviser managed the relationship by focusing on business outcomes rather than technology details, positioning cybersecurity as a business enabler rather than just a cost center. The client ultimately selected their recommended vendor after establishing trust and confidence through technical expertise that matched the decision maker's background in managed services. The discussion highlights the importance of collaboration, bringing in specialized expertise when needed, and building trust in cybersecurity partnerships.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Inside the Win, We'llbreakdown real world wins,
showing you exactly how strategic partnership with our
experts empowers you to tackle your most ambitious
opportunities with confidence. Let's jump in.
Hi everybody. My name is Samara Riaz.
I am the VP of Cybersecurity. And with me today is Trevor
Burnside. Trevor, why don't you introduce
yourself? Hey, thank you.

(00:21):
Yeah, brand new cybersecurity solution architect and Telaris
though and the engineering team for a couple of years now.
And you are now a solutions architect for National Global
Cybersecurity for Telaris. And that's so exciting.
I love working with you and excited to have this Inside the
win session with you today. So Tara, you and I work on a lot

(00:42):
of opportunities together. In your opinion, why is this one
so unique? Well, this one was the first one
we worked on together I think. And it was actually, it came
about because of something you were talking about in our team
meeting. So kind of a cool use space, I
guess of collaboration and working in a team environment.
And, you know, we're always stronger together than we are

(01:02):
individually. So true, so true.
So let's set the table for our audience.
Give us a little bit of a background on this opportunity.
Yeah, So the client is a life science company, less than 200
people, but they were looking tomake some changes, just got some
funding and the partner had a great relationship with him and

(01:23):
he heard hey, they need cybersecurity and and got us
involved. Yep, as a lean IT team as well,
like I think a few, just a few people.
Yeah, it was an exciting 1. So tell us about this tech
advisor. How did they manage the client
relationship? So the advisor themselves did
exactly what we tell our partners to do all the time,

(01:45):
right? Especially when it gets into
cybersecurity, you feel like you're getting in a place where
you're over your skis is don't leave with technology is talk
about business outcomes, impactsof, you know, the business
conversation. Keep it to that, which he did a
phenomenal job with from a in talking about cybersecurity.
Often times people default into cyber being a cost center or an

(02:07):
insurance policy or something you have to pay money for, but
you don't really want. And the partner didn't do that
this time. He, he, he focused on
cybersecurity being an enablement to the business.
And then that third part that wealways encourage our partners to
do is bring us in, right, bring in someone that can talk about
cybersecurity because it can be a delicate topic.
And if they do want to go deep into technology, we have the the

(02:29):
ability to do that when when it's appropriate.
Definitely. And I'm going to put a shameless
plug in about our engineering team right here is our bench is
such a great extension of any tech advisors company because we
have what over 400 certifications just within our
team. I think you have half of them
and we have, we have a few masters, you know, you and I

(02:51):
also have a masters and a few ofour other engineers as well.
So we have a very well educated,totally like a muscle pack beast
of an SE team that can help basically in any technology
practice that's out there. Like we can go deep and wide.
So yeah, it's a shameless plug there for our SE team.

(03:12):
Absolutely. Yeah.
So for this particular opportunity, what was the
business driver that brought client in the market for a
security solution? Well, I think this one was
important because they were looking to go public, actually.
So as a company looking to go public just got, you know, a
round of funding and we're really at that precipice of

(03:34):
making decisions to make sure that their company can undergo
public scrutiny. And so because of that, there
was a sense of urgency that the partner was able to work with.
And, you know, I think that's really the why they were, you
know, came to us or came to the partner looking for help.
Being better agnostic, we brought 3 suppliers to the
table. Why did the client select the

(03:55):
vendor that they did? So the IT decision making that
we were working with was actually very technical, even
though like I said, we kind of we kept it to a business
conversation initially, but theyhad worked at in a managed
service provider previously and he had owned his own company.
So he was very technical and to be able to, I knew from a win
perspective, we'd have to bring in someone very confident that

(04:18):
could speak to his level. And then also above that to
really show that he was going toget services that he can provide
on his own or that he was going to get value through an extended
team that he could trust and rely on.
And and really when it comes to cybersecurity, it's it's
establishing that trust specifically on that pre call

(04:38):
and that first or the pre sales call, that first call and
letting him know that they've got the team behind him that's
going to address their needs. Yeah, that's true.
Like trust and confidence are the 2 keys that kind of go hand
in hand with it. So thank you for your time
today, Trevor. Great opportunity.
Looking forward to working on many more together.

(04:58):
Thank you. Appreciate it.