WithSecure, a prominent name in cyber security, has carved out its niche as Europe's trusted partner of choice for ensuring robust digital protection. Established in 1988, the company has grown remarkably. The workforce is a vibrant tapestry of approximately 1000 employees encompassing around 70 nationalities. WithSecure’s mission is clear: to provide outcome-based cyber security solutions tailored for mid-market companies, ensuring data privacy, sovereignty, and compliance with European regulations. The company engages with approximately 5000 reseller partners and has over 140,000 customer companies, highlighting the expansive reach and trust they have garnered over the decades.
Main challenges
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, WithSecure faced numerous operational challenges. Before 2018, managing and updating their learning management system was arduous, leaving them unable to efficiently track training completions and collect insightful analytics, which was essential for regulatory compliance. Their previous learning management system, an outdated European system, struggled with essential functionality: obtaining detailed reports was a convoluted process, rendering compliance tracking near impossible.
Moreover, WithSecure’s business model heavily relies on partnerships with thousands of resellers who were tasked with selling and administering their products. Automating this partner engagement process in the previous system was complex and mostly manual, consuming valuable resources that could have been better utilized elsewhere.
The inability to get tangible insights into which partners were actively engaging in training hindered the company's ability to gauge the effectiveness of their partner program. Consequently, the company spent two years exploring alternatives, finally culminating in the selection of Cornerstone in 2018.
Why Cornerstone?
Implementing Cornerstone's learning management solution marked a significant shift for WithSecure. By integrating Cornerstone with their HR system and Salesforce for managing partner data, WithSecure streamlined both internal and external training processes. Automation became a central part of their training strategy, minimizing manual labour and enhancing efficiency. Partners could effortlessly access and engage with training programs through a dedicated learning portal, ensuring that registration, tracking, and training recommendations were seamlessly managed.
A pivotal transformation in WithSecure’s approach will be the adoption of a skills-based learning model. Recognising the complexity and specialization required in the cybersecurity field, they introduced modular learning paths for both internal employees and external partners. These pathways offered structured learning journeys from foundational to advanced levels, ensuring relevance and depth in skill acquisition. The strategic inclusion of webinars, case studies, and in-depth product training empowered trainees with up-to-date and crucial skills to address modern cybersecurity challenges.
Cornerstone’s robust reporting capabilities transformed WithSecure’s approach to data, especially in learning and development. Managers can now access real-time analytics on training completions and certifications, both internally and from their network of resellers. These insights allowed WithSecure to make data-driven decisions, ensuring regulatory compliance and improving the performance of their extensive partner network.
Results
The implementation of Cornerstone, coupled with the shift to a skills-based learning approach, has yielded significant results for WithSecure:
- Training Completion Rate Increase: Since the adoption of Cornerstone, the number of completed curriculums by partners surged from 2,000 per year to 7,000 annually. This increase highlights the enhanced engagement and ease of accessing training materials and represents an average of 45% annual growth over 7 consecutive years.
- Partner Training Satisfaction: External partner training satisfaction, measured through the Net Promoter Score (NPS), reached 58, demonstrating high satisfaction levels among partners with Cornerstone training.
- Employee Compliance Rates: Enhanced tracking and reporting capabilities ensured that compliance training completion rates for internal employees could be meticulously monitored and regulated.
- Sales Performance: Trained partners exhibited a 3.4 times higher sales conversion rate compared to those untrained, making a direct correlation between training efforts and revenue generation.
- Skills-Based Learning Efficacy: The new focus on a skills-based approach allows for detailed tracking of individual competencies and specialisations, enabling more effective reskilling and upskilling aligned with market demands.
- Training Flexibility and Scalability: The implementation of Cornerstone allowed WithSecure to offer all training free of charge to partners, promoting extensive participation and removing financial barriers to upskilling.
Conclusion
WithSecure’s strategic shift to using Cornerstone and embracing a skills-based learning model not only addresses its initial challenges but also provided a foundation for ongoing improvements in training effectiveness, partner engagement, and data utilisation.
This comprehensive approach ensured WithSecure maintained its edge in the competitive landscape of cybersecurity, staying true to its commitment to data protection and regulatory compliance while fostering growth and innovation.
