Elastic (NYSE: ESTC) Saves Time, Enhances Accuracy on Customer Security Reviews

Overview

Elastic (NYSE: ESTC), the Search AI company, empowers organizations to harness the full potential of their data through the precision of search and the intelligence of AI. The company serves industries including finance, public sector, and healthcare with real-time, actionable insights.

As Elastic grew, so did its need for more efficient, high-quality customer security reviews. The existing process for handling security questionnaires — essential to customer due diligence — was increasingly complex and time-consuming as the volume increased.

Managing reviews required extensive cross-functional collaboration and an up-to-date knowledge base, which often resulted in backlogs and long hours for Elastic’s InfoSec team. In search of a sustainable solution that would not only streamline this critical process but also support the company’s rapid growth, Elastic turned to SecurityPal’s Customer Assurance (CAx) Suite.

The Challenge: Streamlining Customer Security Questionnaires

Slava Zhomir was tasked with streamlining responses to customer security questionnaires. She focused on creating a centralized knowledge base and refining intake options. While this process was manageable, it wasn’t sustainable, especially as Elastic grew. 

“New customers always require due diligence, most often through security questionnaires,” Slava says. “Our process worked well, but we still had too many intake sources and too many places where various teams could tag InfoSec for security review support. Our queue was overwhelming, especially at the end of each quarter.” 

In some cases, questionnaires required input from privacy, legal, and product teams, which, while necessary, extended response time and required significant oversight from the InfoSec team. Maintaining the knowledge base also required engineering expertise, and while feasible when teams had time, it created backlogs during busier periods. Managing the workload became taxing, limiting the team’s focus on other priorities.

“I got very excited when I learned about SecurityPal,” Slava says. “It’s crucial that questionnaires are completed quickly to support sales and business growth, yet they’re just one part of our team’s workload. This limited the time we could invest in other initiates to mature our security program.”

The Solution: Faster, More Reliable Customer Assurance with SecurityPal

SecurityPal Questionnaire Concierge — which leverages both AI technology and expert security analysts — streamlines Elastic’s customer security reviews, reducing their average turnaround time per questionnaire to 3.4 days.

Integrated into Elastic’s single sign-on (SSO) platform, SecurityPal’s system is accessible across the organization. Faster turnaround times have alleviated the workload on InfoSec and bolstered Sales’ ability to provide timely customer assurance. Elastic also leverages SecurityPal’s Assurance Profile (Trust Center) – a single-page profile that communicates its security and GRC posture to customers – deflecting unnecessary queries and prioritizing essential security reviews.

“Our InfoSec team used to spend countless hours completing and reviewing questionnaires," Slava says.

“With Questionnaire Concierge, we jump in for unique or complex queries. The quality of our responses is consistent and continuing to improve.”
- Slava Zhomir, InfoSec Business Enablement Manager

Additionally, SecurityPal unified Elastic’s intake channels, providing a single source of truth, and continuously updates Elastic’s Knowledge Library, ensuring that questionnaire responses are up to date and accurate. 

“We’re currently working on integrating SecurityPal into our customer relationship management (CRM) system,” Slava says. “This will make it even easier for our sales team to process questionnaires without relying on InfoSec. It will also give us more metadata on questionnaires, allowing us to assign priority, contract value, and urgency to every request.”

The Impact: Enabling Business Growth Through Scalable Security Reviews

“Time is the most valuable currency, and SecurityPal has freed time for everyone involved in the review process,” Slava says. “We now have time to continue strengthening our processes, rather than just executing them. It’s allowed us to improve the maturity of our team, security posture, and the many business functions we support.”

Slava credits SecurityPal for reliable, one-stop support: “Our engagement manager, Jamie, quickly handles any request or feedback, making our partnership seamless and enjoyable. We are also happy to see when the feedback we provide lands on the SecurityPal product roadmap.”

Through SecurityPal’s partnership, Elastic’s InfoSec team has increased the speed with which customer security questionnaires are processed, allowing the InfoSec team to spend more time on other areas of InfoSec and supporting broader business initiatives.

By bridging the gap between InfoSec and Sales and providing a centralized, up-to-date knowledge library, SecurityPal has empowered Elastic to deliver faster, more consistent customer assurance. Elastic’s collaboration with SecurityPal has not only enhanced its security posture but has also fostered stronger customer relationships and positioned the company for future growth.