Cloud security vendors with cloud cultures: Operating in sync with customers  

Cloud-native security companies understand that while digital transformation is the future for most, if not all, organizations across industries, it’s also introducing a host of new cybersecurity challenges that customers need support navigating. For example, as hybrid work and distributed workforces become more normalized, there’s a growing need for solutions and processes to ensure this anytime, anywhere collaboration happens securely. Moreover, as the number of cloud services in use across organizations increases, more sensitive data is being stored in the cloud, and companies continue to lack visibility and/or control over their cloud activities, cloud security is only becoming more critical with time.

However, to build security solutions that solve for these challenges and others, cloud-native security vendors need to first understand the exact nature of the issues their customers are facing. One way they typically approach this is by being deeply integrated into the market and relying on customer feedback to shape their product offerings. But there’s another, often-overlooked way for these companies to stay close to customers’ changing needs: fostering an internal cloud-centric culture themselves. By practicing what they preach, cloud vendors can best support customers and optimize their solutions.

The Value of Firsthand Experience

For cloud-native security vendors, the goal is to build technology that addresses the big-picture cybersecurity and cloud challenges organizations face. And what better way to approach this than by putting themselves directly into the customers’ shoes? By leveraging cloud infrastructure and processes within their own organizations, technology vendors can gain a better sense of the specific obstacles their customers may be up against and what they’re trying to achieve or protect. For example, if the vendor is grappling with how to secure employees’ use of AI applications like ChatGPT, or with Shadow IT more generally, it’s a safe bet that customers are looking for support on the same issues. Firsthand insights into what it’s like to adopt cloud infrastructure or manage distributed workforces can help security vendors identify new use cases for their products or innovate features or capabilities.

When cloud-native companies operate similarly to their customers, they are better positioned to act as true advisors. They can recommend new solutions, tools, or processes that fit their customers’ needs based on their own hands-on knowledge and experience working in the cloud. Vendors embracing cloud infrastructure are more likely to be familiar with the applications customers are using, where the risks may be lurking, and how customers can best approach security within their unique environments.

Get Your Heads in the Cloud

The cloud has changed not only how businesses operate, but also how people operate. It’s becoming increasingly clear that successful transitions to the cloud require more than basic technology infrastructure; employees also need to have the mindsets and behaviors to thrive in cloud-centric cultures. If employees are misaligned in these areas, their organization won’t be able to realize the full potential of its cloud investments. For example, the cloud enables remote work and collaboration, but unless employees are agile and self-motivated, they may not work as productively in less structured settings. For this reason, companies aiming for cloud cultures should build their talent strategy around people who are self-starters and will make the most of what cloud computing has to offer in terms of flexibility, scalability, resilience, and more. While culture is not something that can be manufactured or pushed out from a company’s headquarters, leaders can set the standards for what their ideal cloud-centric culture looks like and their expectations for employees along the company’s digital transformation journey.

Cloud-native companies can lead the charge in establishing cloud cultures because their employees have already internalized the value of this way of working together. Not only are security vendors with cloud-first cultures more likely to be firsthand experts about the specific digital tools or infrastructure needed in these models and how to secure them end-to-end, but they’re also more likely to share the same attitudes and values around digital transformation as their customers. This results in more powerful partnerships in the fight against existing and emerging cyber threats and data loss.

The bottom line is that cloud-native security companies enable their customers to embrace the agility of the cloud and collaborate with peak flexibility and autonomy. But no matter how much information they can glean about the challenges customers face from the outside looking in, there’s no substitute for “walking the talk” and adopting cloud infrastructure, workflows, and team dynamics that mirror those of their customers.

Image Credit: Wayne Williams

Patrick Wilkes is Senior Marketing Director at Skyhigh Security.