1st Credit, Customer Service Direct and HSS Hire illustrate how SaaS platform meets their wide ranging compliance needs

London, UK – September 18, 2012 – SureCloud, a supplier of hybrid Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) information security and IT Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions demonstrates how its ground-breaking Collaborative Compliance platform is helping customers meet their compliance obligations.  1st Credit, Customer Service Direct and HSS Hire have simplified security applications and streamlined compliance processes using SureCloud’s cloud-driven risk-based approach to information assurance.

1st Credit, a leading debt collection agency, Customer Service Direct (CSD), a services provider for Suffolk County and Mid Suffolk District Councils and the national tool and equipment hire and services retailer HSS Hire have each selected SureCloud’s versatile Collaborative Compliance platform as a simpler, more cost effective way for them to stay on top of their security compliance obligations.

Having won awards for compliance, 1st Credit understood the value of demonstrable compliance. Previously this had been achieved with multiple point solutions covering different aspects of information security. Although each one did a good job in its own way, aggregating their collective data to attain a complete picture was complicated and challenging.  “It wasn’t just the cost of paying for individual products that had an impact on our business; it was the overall total cost of ownership as a result of us having to manage different solutions and keep on top of the reporting requirements,” said Head of ICT Andrew Bover.

For CSD the challenge is to deliver a shared ICT service for Suffolk County and Mid Suffolk District Councils on a merged wide area network that complies with the Government Connect Secure Extranet (GCSx) network. With limited budgets and potential fines from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the event of noncompliance, CSD sought a partner able to help maintain and prove ongoing regulatory compliance quickly, easily and cost effectively. “Because SureCloud offers just one integrated solution for numerous needs we can add to our protection, such as scanning for PCI compliance, when we want,” said CSD Enterprise Architect Philip Barbrook. “We’ve gained a cost effective way of meeting our evolving security compliance requirements as well as invaluable advice about what direction to go in with our information security strategy and technologies.”

In the case of HSS Hire the driving factor was the need to meet the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). HSS Hire recognised that it needed to work with a security compliance partner who could help continuously assess operations and fix any vulnerabilities identified. “SureCloud has minimised the threat of non-compliance, enhanced the security of our data and given us a visibility that we simply didn’t have previously. And it’s all delivered in a single, cost effective package,” said Dennis Joseph, HSS Hire Computer Services Manager.

“Each of these customers is a mid-sized organisation who have neither the funds nor resources needed for the more enterprise-led approaches to risk management,” said Richard Hibbert, CEO of SureCloud.  “In each case the SureCloud Collaborative Compliance Platform uses just enough essential parts to gives them a clear, holistic view of their security compliance security status at a fraction of the cost.”