Technology Magazine December 2020 | Page 19

If you ’ ve ever felt trapped in a telephone menu tree , a nonsensical exchange with a chatbot , or even a call with a human customer-support rep who won ’ t go off-script , [ 24 ] 7 . ai feels your pain .

The 20-year-old Silicon Valley company is on a quest to make customer service easier and more enjoyable — a mission that has grown ever more urgent amid a major shift to digital commerce and remote work .

“ If you have clients who go to your website and they can ’ t fi nd information very quickly and effi ciently , they usually go away ,” says Rebecca Wynn , [ 24 ] 7 . ai ’ s global CISO and chief privacy offi cer . “ People don ’ t have any patience anymore with that .”

Two critical aspects of [ 24 ] 7 . ai ’ s business are protecting its intellectual property and keeping clients ’ information private .

[ 24 ] 7 . ai ’ s customer base runs the gamut of industry sectors . Many of those — such as healthcare fi nance and government — are highly regulated . [ 24 ] 7 . ai must keep customer data out of the hands of cyber criminals and compliant with a growing myriad of regulations .

“ Cybersecurity plays a big , big role in what we do ,” Wynn said . “ We ’ re fi ghting a cyber war with people who are behind another keyboard and who are trying to harm us all .”

In any war , you need allies . Wynn enlisted the help of Proofpoint , a cybersecurity vendor she calls a strong partner in her fi ght against cyber threats and compliance risks .

“ Proofpoint allows me to sleep at night because of what they are doing for me .”

Rebecca Wynn Global and CISO Chief Privacy Offi cer , [ 24 ] 7 . ai

Today ’ s threats target people , not technology . That ’ s why Proofpoint takes a unique peoplecentric approach to cybersecurity . It offers a complete portfolio of security and compliance solutions designed to protect today ’ s “ people perimeter .”

Proofpoint protects against a wide range of email and cloud threats . It helps customers control access to sensitive data and prevent data loss . And it trains users to be more resilient against the threats that target them .

“ One of the things that I look for is who can be a good partner with me ,” she said . “ We are in a cyber war and I need people who can be in that cyber war with me .”

With Proofpoint , [ 24 ] 7 . ai can easily scale up its cyber defenses , using Proofpoint to augment its internal security team .

Having a trusted partner such as Proofpoint helps [ 24 ] 7 . ai identify which cybersecurity functions it does not need to duplicate because Proofpoint already provides them .