Rapid growth through M&A activity might sound like a good problem for a business, but it often comes with growing pains. IT teams suddenly have duplicate tools for some functions and gaps in other areas.
These inconsistencies become high-risk vulnerabilities to any security team, pushing CISOs toward tool consolidation. More than technical solutions, security leaders want to address underlying business problems with a partner who can support the company's growth journey.
That was the situation at Venbrook Group.
Acquisitions helped fuel Venbrook's rise to one of the fastest-growing private insurance brokerages in the U.S. Venbrook provides comprehensive risk management across retail and wholesale, specialty programs, and claims services.
It's a massive environment for Venbrook CISO Christopher Nowell to protect. Every disconnected tool added to the stack created a potential blind spot that could jeopardize a 30-year reputation. And with the potential of more M&A opportunities looming, they had to act fast.
The more security tools, the less control
Each newly acquired company brought its own IT stack. By the time Christopher arrived in 2022, the security team used up to six different solutions, including one for patching and another for vulnerability management.
The problem?
- Poor communication between tools led to reduced visibility and command over the environment.
- The staff wasted critical time pivoting between tools during active incidents, increasing the time to resolution and introducing errors.
"We were taking far too long to do everything, and spending far too much money on it," Christopher said.
Gaining credibility through a unified solution
Venbrook wanted to gain control over its environment by consolidating the tools into a unified security solution. Rapid7's Managed Detection and Response (MDR) platform would offer them a way to do that without sacrificing functionality. During a proof of concept (POC), the team found the platform to be reliable and easy to deploy across their environment. Rather than forcing analysts to jump between multiple interfaces, it allowed the team to ingest and evaluate all disparate log and data sources on a single screen.
"Putting our hands on the system, it became obvious that it was the right tool for us," Christopher said.
Venbrook had another motivation for consolidating tools: reducing spending. Cost savings were a "humongous differentiator" between Rapid7 and the competition. In particular, Rapid7 was willing to get creative in structuring the deal to support Venbrook's financial goals.
Venbrook started by implementing MDR, and the operational payoff was immediate. Having managed security at large enterprises like Sony, Christopher knew that identifying, validating, and resolving threats often took days or even weeks. By centralizing analysis with Rapid7 MDR, Venbrook eliminated the lengthy manual tracking. They've proven that a lean, mid-market team can become incredibly responsive due to a combination of a top-quality product and help from strong technical teams.
Suddenly, Christopher had everything he needed to justify a broader security evolution with Rapid7, a reliable anchor that provided Venbrook with unshakable confidence in their security data.
