Global Telemarketing Firm, TeleNet, Ensures Customer Data Protection with Apptega

TeleNet's co-founders started the company in 1999 because they recognized a real need for a quality-focused B2B marketing and teleprospecting firm to help build and nurture sales pipelines for companies with a complex sales cycle.

Since then, they've recruited a team of industry veterans and constructed a state-of-the-art contact center in Athens, Georgia.

TeleNet is an expert in developing effective teleprospecting lead generation and lead nurturing strategies. The company was created around a single focus: providing businesses with valuable information they can trust. Keeping this promise is how it has helped countless companies build their sales pipeline and increase revenue from their B2B marketing investment.

As a marketing firm driven by increasing client demands, TeleNet chose to obtain an ISO 27001 certification to ensure the safety of its data — and its client data — to continue growing the business.

Case study overview

Prioritize ISO 27001 compliance controls to produce a roadmap for security success
Automate their cybersecurity processes and increase protection and security protocols
Establish the ability to quickly and effectively respond to cybersecurity surveys and questionnaires

Overview

First-ever certification driven by increasing client demands

Apptega used as single source of cybersecurity truth

Audit completed in three days, ahead of schedule

ISO 27001 certified September 2020

Certification provides competitive differentiation

Positioned for growth, domestic and multinational

With Apptega Harmony, already two-thirds complete in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance

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About TeleNet

TeleNet Marketing Solutions is a lead generation and lead nurturing company that focuses on business-to-business (B2B) strategies.

Founded in 1999 on the principle of providing businesses with valuable and trusted information, the company is dedicated to helping others build and scale their sales pipelines, while increasing revenue generated through B2B marketing.

TeleNet creates customized B2B tele-prospecting and lead generation strategies tailored to their customers’ unique and specific needs. These strategies accelerate sales pipeline growth by adding a layer of human interaction to build relationships, align sales, and with specialization in telemarketing, provide customers with customized criteria for targeted marketing, lead generation, and lead nurturing.

TeleNet’s customers range across industries, from IT security and business intelligence to cloud computing, electronic medical records, data centers, supply chain logistics, and more.

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A Push for Stronger Cybersecurity

As TeleNet’s customer base has grown since its founding, the company knew it was time to build and mature a cybersecurity program to keep its data — and its client data — safe.

Looking back more than a year and a half ago, the company had sufficient data protection practices but lacked the roadmap needed for a mature cybersecurity program. The company focused primarily on perimeter protection, with a goal of keeping bad actors out.

However, client expectations of robust cybersecurity measures were becoming increasingly common, and some of their largest clients were either headquartered in or operating through the European Union (EU), where GDPR had gone into effect.

To continue growing the company as client requirements evolved, TeleNet leadership knew they needed to expand their protections and security protocols. A robust cybersecurity program would also create a competitive advantage for TeleNet.

The company found itself bogged down in tedious manual processes, responding to customer cybersecurity surveys and questionnaires. They knew they needed to take steps to not only meet increasing client demands but also get ahead of evolving industry requirements.

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A Move to Certification

TeleNet started with a focus on ISO 27001 certification.

ISO/EIC 27001 is an internationally recognized standard that guides how organizations manage information security. ISO 27001 is a cybersecurity framework featuring 114 control options organizations can use to create, implement, and manage an information security management system (ISMS).

While some industries require ISO 27001 certification for a variety of reasons, the certification, in general, isn’t mandatory. However, many businesses find it a great way to develop robust information security practices. TeleNet’s team decided to pursue ISO 27001 certification as a way to demonstrate to its clients, key stakeholders, and the general public that the company’s information security practices meet ISO standards.

Team members knew this would be a challenging task and quickly recognized that their existing practices — for example using spreadsheets and other document repositories for cybersecurity management — weren’t going to cut it.

Those manual practices would complicate processes, decrease efficiency, and make it difficult to automate and eliminate duplicate processes as they worked toward a successful compliance audit for certification.

They began looking for a software platform that would help them design and build a cybersecurity program tailored to the organization’s needs and give them instant visibility into program status, while using the ISO 27001 framework to help guide their cybersecurity practices.

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Software/Platform Requirements

The first step was finding a solution that would enable TeleNet to develop its ISMS practices based on the ISO 270001 framework, prepare for a successful audit, and scale as the company adopts and crosswalks new frameworks in the future.

They also wanted a solution that would enable them to effectively communicate, to their leadership team and key stakeholders, how well they’re doing and where they needed additional resources and support — thereby building cybersecurity into the company’s overall goals and objectives.

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