Many of our security clients are in the thick of RSA Conference 2018 in San Francisco. That’s why before the show, PAN sat down with many of them to discuss anticipations and priorities. Throughout this series, our clients will give their observations on trends and how to stand out this year.
PAN spoke with Nilly Assia, CMO of Portnox earlier this month:
What are your thoughts on RSAC 2018? What are you most looking forward to?
RSA is such a great, large international show in the security industry that we often think, “If you’re not there, you’re not in the space.” We’re looking forward to seeing traction at our booth. From a sales perspective, we are showcasing our product demo, making sure we have good leads, and working to hold meaningful conversations with prospects. From a media point of view, we always enjoy speaking with journalists, analysts and influencers to get a better understanding of what they are covering and how Portnox fits into the overall landscape. Finally, we’re looking forward to strengthening our ecosystem relationships by having productive meetings with tech partners and MSPs to discuss potential integrations and how we can mobilize our Network Access Control solutions through the channel.
If you had to choose the single most important item to prepare for RSAC, what would it be and when would that process begin?
For us, one of our major initiatives for 2018 is to generate awareness and leads for our cloud-based Network Access Control solution, Portnox CLEAR. We started preparing months ago by developing booth messaging, inviting our customers, prospects and partners to visit us at our booth, and generally promoting our attendance at the show through email and social media campaigns.
As you know, there are more than 550 exhibitors at RSAC, in what ways do you make your company stand out at RSAC?
We creatively tie our products to issues companies are facing today. For example, enterprise mobility and BeyondCorp are painful issues for organizations because they want to be able to provide flexibility for their employees, but on the other hand, they want to make sure to increase productivity and, most importantly, that their network and information is secure. To tie us to these concepts, we’re giving away freebies that are associated with travel – branded luggage tags, passport covers, etc. With people traveling all the time and out of the office, they need to be secure, whether it is their physical belongings or company data.
What are your top three buzzwords for RSAC 2018?
IoT, blockchain, and SaaS. Every year we have seen these terms get stronger attention at RSA. We started hearing rumblings about the cloud 10 years ago. Now, we constantly see companies talking about moving applications, services and data from on-premise to the cloud.
Why is RSA a valuable conference for CMOs to attend and what aspect of the show (sessions, booth talks, etc.) provides the most value for your business?
When you’re at the C-level, you’re very much connected to the business. As CMO, you’re not just running campaigns but also supporting key strategic initiatives that the business is focusing on. Attending RSA allows you to listen to trends, industries and motions, and have conversations with customers, prospects and partners to glean insights into pains and trends. Then, you can bring those ideas back to management to discuss on a strategic level and evaluate what they mean to your business. Often, you see some of the best decisions based on a session or a conversation that took place at the booth. Those conversations can shape the focus of a product roadmap, feature, or even future campaigns that you wouldn’t get if you didn’t attend the show.