Business Challenge

A global financial services company was about to deploy the latest in firewall technology.  But first, the company’s IT security staff needed to be educated thoroughly on the new firewall, which differed significantly from the technology they had been using up to that point.  An additional challenge was that the intensive training needed to be scheduled so as to minimize personnel drain on the company’s IT department.  The time frame was tight, as the new firewall had to be deployed in plenty of time to allow for all configuration and operating issues to be worked out well in advance of the fourth quarter holiday shopping season.  During that time, the company adheres to a firm IT “lockdown” that prohibits any IT changes whatsoever.  The “lockdown” is mandated due to the tremendous volume of customer transactions processed throughout this season; the company simply cannot afford any downtime.

Solution

Forsythe provided a security technology course for 30 members of the company’s IT department.  Conducted over three weeks, the course provided the entire group with detailed knowledge to make them thoroughly confident in deployment, configuration, and operation of the new firewall and its associated operating system, which was also new to them.  Because it was dedicated exclusively to the company’s staff, the students could feel fully comfortable asking detailed questions specific to their IT environment without the risk of compromising the company’s security.  The ability to ask such questions is especially important in security education, since, in contrast to other areas of IT operations, the effectiveness of security technology is highly dependent on specialized rules which, if configured incorrectly or incompletely, can render the technology useless.  There is also a significant benefit to having everyone who will be working together in an organization learn together, so a baseline of common knowledge, reference, and vocabulary is established.

Another advantage of a dedicated class is its flexibility.  Forsythe is well aware that business and the IT supporting it keep going no matter who is in training.  Forsythe does everything possible to help companies accomplish both simultaneously.  Forsythe’s education facility is designed such that “students” can manage their organization’s security environment remotely from the class location if needed.  This allows them to handle urgent issues immediately and conveniently, and the class to resume with minimal disruption. 

Results

The company was quickly able to begin operating its new firewall with confidence, and experienced a less painful learning curve, thanks to Forsythe’s security education offerings.  The result was a much faster return-on-investment, in ample time for a busy, secure holiday shopping season.