4 Major Mishaps When Failing to Complete a POC - & How to Avoid Them

POCs are critical to selecting the right cyber security solutions for your organization. When you fail to complete a POC - or perform one altogether - you run the risk of your selected solution not being aligned with the organization, costing you without providing benefits, failing to be assimilated, and leaving your organization exposed to malicious hackers. You might also find yourself with a series of tools and integrations that you don't need, don't want, and don't find helpful at all, leading to sub-optimal outcomes.

Let’s take a deep dive into four major mishaps that are the direct result of failing to perform or complete a POC:

If you think that not completing a POC will save you time and resources, think again. You need to perform or complete a POC, so that your interactions with vendors become context-based rather than disparate. Instead of focusing on the product’s tech, features, and functions, you want to be able to understand how said elements can be applied to use cases or meet your needs and demands, within the specific context pertaining to your organization and its target environment in need of protection. The cut-and-dry information does not specifically refer to whether the solution solves your problem, or whether it complements, overlaps, or replaces the need for an existing product. A full POC will help you find the best-fit product for your organization; not a product that, in and of itself is good, but may not be good-enough fit for you. 

Perhaps you want to compare a few different vendors, or maybe there’s a new solution on the market that doesn’t have any direct competitors to which it can be compared. Your lone personal perspective and experience can lead you to form biases and assumptions. The result: a selection process that is subjective, so it may not translate into long-term advantages for your organization. It’s in your best interest that comparisons you do make are “apples-to-apples,” and they most certainly must be objective.

When it comes to selecting a new cyber security product, there’s no medal for cutting corners. You might just find yourself struggling with the many elements involved in running a successful process, start to finish – from research and meetings, through RFI and RFP, to bakeoffs and the actual POCs themselves. That means more time and more resources spent, while new products and threats continue to emerge and shape the dynamic tech environment. By the time you actually (think) you’re done, all your research may have been rendered obsolete and irrelevant. Even if it hasn’t, you’ve likely delayed implementation by at least half a year. External help can save you time and money, in the long-run. Know that there’s no need to trade-off between not performing a POC, or performing one partially or poorly. While some time and money must be spent, doing so is an investment worth its weight in gold (and can be drastically paired down, with the right partner).

There are hundreds of vendors on the market, with solution names and messages that are increasingly similar and overlapping. Each vendor may solve one or more problems, and their solutions’ capabilities may be bundled in different ways, making it hard to understand which solution is a best fit for which tech environment and challenges. You might be less familiar with a particular category, making it challenging for you to identify where and how to deploy the tech (cloud, hardware, etc.), or to ascertain whether it even solves the problem at all and warrants a change. You most certainly want to find the best solution that meets ALL your requirements – including, but not limited to those already being resolved by another solution you have deployed – and yet, it’s perfectly natural to feel that such an attempt is enough to place you in a state of static limbo that doesn’t benefit anyone. Turning to the pros can help turn a potential panic attack into a positive and productive experience.

True, complete and comprehensive POCs require time and resources. Your needs and required resources must be mapped. You deserve to find cyber solutions that not only are great, but are also a great fit for your organization. It might be hard to rationalize at first, and you may be afraid of swapping one vendor for another, but in the name of optimal outcomes, it can, and should be done, with a complete and robust technology selection process, which most certainly includes executing a POC in the context and technical depth required.

 The good news is you don't have to go at it alone. You can find the right cyber security solution for your organization with greater efficiency and success, by partnering with KPMG Cyber Arena:

• KPMG’s disruptive approach to cyber technology selection streamlines your cyber solution selection journey to generate better outcomes.
• Cyber Arena integrates innovative technologies with KPMG consulting to create an unmatched and holistic approach to cyber technology selection.
• Cyber Arena simplifies the process of finding the most effective security solutions while saving on valuable resources, such as time, money, and internal staff training.

Want to learn more? Contact us to set up a consultation and kickstart a complete POC today!