Tamr verifies hardened security posture with Cloud Security Confidence Assessment

The current era of digital transformation–integrating digital technologies with existing business models to improve operations and deliver better customer value–has presented new challenges for many companies. For some, the resulting mass proliferation of data has become a burden rather than an advantage. 

To surmount this obstacle, industry-leading organizations are turning to Tamr, a data product company, with their highly scalable cloud-native data mastering platform that consolidates messy source data into high-quality, trusted datasets. Tamr combines data quality services, machine learning-based matching models, external data, and human feedback to deliver business-changing insights.

“We help our customers find the best version of the specific data assets they own,” says Daniel Bruckner, Co-founder and Head of Engineering at Tamr. “When there is data from many different sources, we link it together. If there is incorrect data, we clean it up. With duplicate data, we merge it. And if data is missing, we try to fill it in.”

Business challenge 

Several years ago, Tamr decided to build a new version of their patented software platform on top of Google Cloud and offer it as a fully managed SaaS solution. Tamr needed to address three specific go-to-market challenges for a SaaS transition. 

“First, we had to reassure internal stakeholders that we wouldn’t be less secure moving to the cloud,” says Bruckner. “Next, we needed to ensure that product-related security mechanisms were in place for a modern Google Cloud architecture. Lastly, we needed to stay focused on our customers throughout this process. We wanted to go beyond basic regulatory compliance and secure our customers’ data in the best possible way.”

Migrate to Google Cloud with SADA’s help

Tamr engaged SADA, a multiple-time Google Cloud Partner of the Year, to assist with the comprehensive migration to Google Cloud and provide guidance on ensuring a strong security posture for the company’s new Google Cloud environment.

It was great for us to build our Google Cloud-hosted solution according to best practices and with a modern understanding of how to deliver software-as-a-service. We appreciated SADA, as an independent third party, for shining a light on all the corners of Google Cloud security and making sure we’re doing it right.

Nik Bates-Haus | Chief Architect at Tamr

After the successful product launch of the Tamr Mastering SaaS solution, the company wasn’t content to stand still on security. “We know the business challenge of security is never finished; it’s always evolving and must be an area of continuous improvement,” says Nick Laferriere, Lead Cloud Architect at Tamr. “We wanted to see how much progress we had made eighteen months after our move to the cloud and if we had fully leveraged Google Cloud’s security tools.”

Need to find the right customer at the right time

Also, Tamr was looking for Google Cloud customers who could benefit from their data mastering solution. As with many things, the timing was critical. “One thing that we’ve seen when engaging prospects who are Google Cloud customers is it can be difficult to find the right customer at the right time,” says Matt Holzapfel, Head of Corporate Strategy at Tamr. “With so many data initiatives underway simultaneously with some customers, the challenge became finding the correct contact.” 

Tamr needed more granular information about companies that would benefit from their solution at the decision-maker level. Personal customer engagement to educate Tamr prospects would also be necessary, given the nuances of their data mastering solution.

Solution

Again, Tamr reached out to SADA, this time for an assessment of their security posture. Tamr leveraged SADA’s Professional Services and the Cloud Security Confidence Assessment to evaluate controls and provide recommendations to help reduce risks and prepare for threats.

“SADA’s Security Findings & Recommendations allowed us to prioritize and place resources to address ten general security domains,” says Bruckner. “That insight helped us manage projects, staff, and also determine cost-benefit tradeoffs for us to ensure a holistic security foundation.” 

Quick wins improve security to the gold standard

SADA’s team of security experts worked with Tamr to understand key Google Cloud attack surfaces within the Tamr environment. The assessment outlined recommended remediations and quick wins to improve and strengthen Tamr’s overall security posture. 

The 50+ page report by SADA provided detailed Security Findings & Recommendations for each domain and aggregated them into a final score, which indicated Tamr’s overall security met the gold standard for Google Cloud. The company received the highest marks for their efforts in hardening, monitoring, and restricting access to Google Cloud infrastructure.

Join SADA’s SaaS Alliance Program to engage customers

To get in front of the right customers, Tamr decided to join SADA’s SaaS Alliance Program, a go-to-market acceleration program for ISVs, SaaS, and digital natives. “What really drove Tamr to the Alliance Program was ensuring we’re connecting with the right audiences within Google Cloud accounts,” says Holzapfel. “This helps reassure us that we’re reaching folks who have prioritized data initiatives and are looking for new ways to get value out of their data in their shift to the cloud.”

SADA helped Tamr connect with the right people by staying close to the customer, asking the correct questions, listening closely, and acting more like advisers than vendors. When SADA team members knew one of their customers was a good fit for Tamr, they could enable Tamr customer engagement for nurturing.

“SADA Reps, Customer Success Managers, Cloud Engineers, and Data Engineers have great insight into what problems Google Cloud customers wrestle with,” says Holzapfel. “They can recommend Tamr when a customer has a problem we can solve. We and our partners have to meaningfully engage the customer as they get started with the technology. Having SADA make sure those interactions start out right is powerful.”

Additionally, Tamr also reaches Google Cloud customers through SADA’s SaaS Alliance Program, marketing channels, such as the Cloud N Clear podcast, a branded SADA partner page, co-branded solution fliers, and SADA events. 

Impact

As a result of working with SADA on their Cloud Security Confidence Assessment, Tamr has gained the knowledge and proof that their Google Cloud infrastructure has been hardened to the gold standard level. 

Of course, it’s great to get a seal of approval or a gold star rating regarding Tamr’s security posture on Google Cloud. But coming from SADA, that means even more. We know SADA understands our product and business more than the average third-party vendor. We also know that SADA specializes in Google Cloud, which adds an extra level of trust. So when their Cloud Security Engineers say our security is good, you know it’s good.

Daniel Bruckner | Co-founder and Head of Engineering at Tamr

No one asks if the cloud is secure since the assessment

Since the security assessment, Tamr reports that no one asks if their cloud platform offering or services are secure. “The Cloud Security Confidence Assessment is a productivity enhancer,” says Bruckner. “Before the assessment, we’d have meetings to explain our security posture, or we’d have to write emails about it. The assessment has been a real time saver. It also affects the pre-sales team and how they talk to customers, who have completely stopped asking, ‘Is your SaaS platform secure?’ Not anymore.”

Increase market profile with SADA’s SaaS Alliance Program

After recently expanding their partnership with SADA through the SADA SaaS Alliance Program, Tamr has been able to jump-start their promotional and sales activities. They’ve experienced increased visibility within the Google Cloud ecosystem due to SADA’s joint marketing efforts, targeted outbound outreach, and cross-selling alongside Google Cloud’s top channel sales organization.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised how efficient and transparent SADA made the process to join the alliance,” says Holzapfel. “The SADA team executed quickly and helped us raise our marketing profile with potential customers. In fact, we generated our first joint opportunity within a couple weeks of joining the program.”

Overall, by conducting a comprehensive security assessment of their Google Cloud environment and partnering in the alliance, SADA helped Tamr:

• Verify ten vital domains of cybersecurity
• Start planning for and remediation of identified gaps 
• Overcome internal stakeholders’ cloud concerns
• Extend platform market reach and enrich their sales pipeline
• Decrease pre-sales security objections by 100%
• Increase market visibility in the Google Cloud ecosystem
• Generate their first joint sales opportunity within two weeks of joining the alliance