“Our productivity is up because the software lets you do a lot more quickly because it’s right there – it’s all together.” Jim Cunliffe, VP of Information Systems and Security, Utilant
Challenges
Managing and Adhering to All of Their Customers’ Regulatory Standards.
Risk is the currency that large P&C insurance carriers deal with day in and day out. And when the risk-takers need to manage their loss control exposures, they turn to Utilant.
Utilant’s SaaS platform streamlines their customers’ loss control survey management process and helps their underwriters make better policy decisions—talk about risky business!
In addition to the value Utilant brings to their customer’s core loss control workflow and underwriting capabilities, Utilant is tasked with managing security controls for the breadth and depth of insurance industry regulations that their customers adhere to.
As Jim Cunliffe (VP of Information Systems and Security) explains, “So while we might not have specific regulations that we have to adhere to, we’re often beholden to them through the business relationships that we have with other companies.”
Like most security teams, Jim and his team were pressed for resources. The closest thing they had to a GRC platform was an ad-hoc assortment of documents and policies.
“It was a variety of Word documents with PDFs with no evidence capture or coordination with any of the controls that we had in place,” Jim recalls.
“It was really just a series of disconnected policy documents that didn’t have controls or evidence supporting those controls. And that’s something we didn’t have until we got Tugboat Logic.”
Solution
A Platform That Automates and Demystifies Security and Compliance.
“And when evaluating the product and what it could do, and what the startup and ramp-up times were, along with pricing, we ultimately chose Tugboat.” Jim Cunliffe, VP of Information Systems and Security
As part of his evaluation, Jim narrowed his choices down to Tugboat Logic and another vendor he was familiar with. He considered every stage of the sales experience from each vendor.
“I had some experience with [the other vendor] because it was a platform that I had sold as a reseller when I worked for another company. So it’s a good product, but there were some issues with the sales side,” Jim recalls.
“There were some assumptions that were made that were kind of a turn-off. And when evaluating the product and what it could do, and what the startup and ramp-up times were, along with pricing, we ultimately chose Tugboat.”
The Tugboat platform’s ability to take the misery and mystery out of compliance is usually what gets people excited about an otherwise dry subject.
For Jim, though, Tugboat’s Customer Success and Security Labs teams are the X factor that makes the platform even better. He’s been “really pleased with the backend support that [he and his team] have received.”
“Something that doesn’t often get mentioned in success stories and things of that nature is how good and how responsive you guys have been. I think tech support gets overlooked sometimes.
The individual reps at Tugboat Logic have always been really responsive to any questions or needs that I have. From Sydney [Director of Customer Success] to the other individuals that you guys have working for you, I’ve been really pleased.”
Results
Centralized Hundreds of Policies While Automating Evidence Collection.
“Tugboat will make it easier for us to accomplish some of the things that go along with security, and make sure that those activities occur regularly and don’t get forgotten.” Jim Cunliffe, VP of Information Systems and Security
From sales to HR, multiple teams at Utilant have gotten significant value from the Tugboat platform.
According to Jim, his team doesn’t need to worry about “old documents floating around in different departments”—Utilant’s sales and account reps can hand out the right documents and questionnaires to prospects and customers.
“Centralization of the policies is one of the biggest features that we use and are glad to have. The second biggest feature is the automated evidence collection controls that are mapped to the different frameworks like SOC, NIST, or ISO, and their corresponding tasks that go along with that. We can assign those to individuals so that we’re able to follow up on those.”
Utilant has set its sights on growing from 100 to 300 employees in the next 10 years. But, Jim worries about disconnects that may happen between his team and HR as a result of the rapid growth.
As they grow, he specifically sees on/offboarding having “a bigger impact than anything else.” In preparation for that, he foresees “other tools in the Tugboat platform bringing [everything] back to a single system that we can have a workflow around”—all of which takes the misery out of security for him and his team.
Check out the PDF version of Utilant’s Case Study.
Try Tugboat Logic
Tugboat Logic takes the misery and mystery out of passing security audits like SOC 2 and ISO 27001 so you can slay more deals and stay secure. From start-ups like Utilant to Fortune 500 companies like Schneider Electric, we’ve got your back.
And to take the suck out of SOC 2, schedule time to see the platform in action, or create a trial account to get started on your SOC 2 (or any other) certification. Note that your trial account is exactly the same thing that our customers use, so what you see is what you get.
PS: Feeling iffy about SOC 2? Download The Ultimate Survival Guide to SOC 2 Compliance and get the help you need to ace your next audit, with tips and tricks from ex-auditors.
