2023 was a remarkable year for Forsyte Guardian 365. The company experienced a 155% increase in topline growth and expanded its team, now operating in two countries. The sales composition also underwent a significant shift, with Professional Services decreasing from 90% of total sales in 2022 to 40% in 2023. This is noteworthy because the remaining 60% of sales come from our Managed Security Services solution, called Guardian 365®.
Guardian 365® is Forsyte's security managed service that offers 24x7x365 monitoring of our customers’ identities, endpoints, and applications through the Microsoft 365 XDR security stack. As part of our service, we also provide the implementation, configuration, and validation of the customer's security environment at no extra cost. This helps to minimize our customers' vulnerability to malicious actors worldwide.
The Forsyte team worked incredibly hard to make 2023 such a resounding success. However, one of the true keys to our success lies in the strong bonds and relationships we have with our key partners and our customers. These relationships have given us the strength to surpass our initial expectations and set even higher goals for the future.
Key accomplishments of 2023:
- Analyzed and investigated millions of security alerts supporting over 2 million identities and endpoints. Our goal is to grow these numbers ten-fold over the next year.
- Migrated over a million mailboxes from one tenant to another, in support of tenant consolidation and simplification of our customers’ technology footprint.
- Implemented Intune for over 30 customers to help deploy and enhance the management of our security solutions.
- Joined the Microsoft Intelligence Security Association (MISA) as an MSSP provider and became Microsoft MXDR Verified. Being MXDR Verified through MISA is a prestigious achievement, as MISA limits its membership to a small subset of Microsoft partners. Currently, there are approximately 40 Microsoft partners globally that are MXDR Verified. To obtain MXDR verification, we underwent a Microsoft security audit to ensure that we have the necessary procedures and best practices in place to provide Security Operations Center services to Microsoft customers. This program allows us to use SCI funds to provide Proof of Concept and, in some cases, first-year coverage of our Security Managed Services.
- Partnered with several VARs/Educational License Consortiums, including CITE, PEPPM, ScholarBuys, CollegeBuys, Carahsoft, IU13, and CICU. This partnership simplifies the purchasing process as we provide pre-negotiated pricing for these groups.
- Partnered with Seedpod, a cyber-security insurance provider. Organizations that use Forsyte's Guardian 365® will receive a discounted rate on their cyber insurance if purchased through Seedpod.
- Expanded Guardian 365® service to include penetration testing. Penetration testing is a core feature of any organization's security compliance program. We now offer this service to every existing Guardian customer as part of Guardian 365®.
- Continued to develop our own intellectual property to enhance Guardian 365®. PIM Extender remains a key differentiator for Guardian 365®, extending Azure's Privileged Identity Management to the customer's datacenter. This means that we can provide privileged access to on-premises devices without having to install Privileged Access Management.
- Exceptional customer service: Our dedicated team works tirelessly to reduce our customers' stress and workload, ensuring their needs are met.
- Business level reporting: We provide reports that highlight the value of Guardian 365®. This helps business leaders justify the importance of our services and allows our customers to shine.
- SOC2 – Type II certification: We hold this certification, demonstrating our commitment to security and data protection.
- Microsoft partnership: We are an exceptional Microsoft partner, certified in Threat Protection, Adoption and Change Management, Cloud Security, and Identity and Access Management. We are currently working towards obtaining the Information Protection and Governance Advanced certification. Additionally, we are part of the Microsoft Security Copilot early access program, where we learn and test Security Copilot using real work data.
- Business justification and funding: We actively seek ways to provide business justification and funding opportunities to support our customers. Two key areas of focus are:
- Graham Leach Bliley Act: We understand the requirements of this act and ensure that our customers meet them, particularly education institutions providing financial aid.
- E-rate funding: We are working to be included as a partner in the E-rate program's pilot program, which extends coverage to include cybersecurity. This will enable many of our customers to use government funds for their cybersecurity services.
- Provide the highest level of cybersecurity service to our customers, ensuring exponential growth in the coming years.
- Risk exposure program. Whether it is a Pen Testing, Patch management plan, or Risk Assessment, we will collaborate with our customers to consistently assess their risk exposure and provide solutions to mitigate or eliminate risk in their environment.
- Build a Channel Program.
- Establish an internship program to provide real-world experience to college students at Forsyte.
- Continuously explore new technologies:
- In the Microsoft Security Copilot program, we aim to provide faster and more proactive security services to our customers.
- We are collaborating with Microsoft to find ways to reduce Azure Sentinel costs using Data Lake technology. This opportunity has the potential to reduce Azure Sentinel costs to 1/3 of its current cost.
- We are designing a new creative architecture solution to address emerging challenges, particularly for large user populations. This design leverages Azure B2C accounts, offering support for various identity providers, including social platforms. Apart from enhancing the user experience, this design simplifies lifecycle management, reduces overall costs, and enables virtually unlimited scalability.
- CISOA – March
- IU13 Tech Talk Live - May
- SUNY Technology Conference – June
- Microsoft Inspire - July
- Educause - September
- CITE - November
- Additionally, we will be participating in several smaller events. Please reach out to our sales team for more information.
