The security pre-sales consultant is a security resource whose core work is to provide the consultation and solution on the issues related to cyber security. A security consultant understands the business objectives of the customer/organizations, their pain areas and scope of improvement in their security landscape. Another aspect is that cyber-crimes are increasing on an alarming rate and that’s why the need for security pre-sales is in much demand.
Responsibilities of the Security Pre-Sales Consultant
- He or she must work in an organization and commercial sales team of the enterprise. They ensure cyber security solutions that are used in the environment are best and no one can harm the production environment.
- Security pre-sale resources must provide all sorts of technical advice & solutions on the projects related to cyber security to the customers.
- They must prepare all sorts of technical documents as a response to the RFI (Requests for Information), RFP (Request for Proposals), etc.
- Security pre sales resources have to give their technical support on the issues related to cyber security and for network projects.
- The security pre sales consultant should present the technical designs, troubleshooting, and implementations of designs for cyber security or network projects. They must co-operate with the client, vendors, and partners.
Skills Required by Security Pre-Sales Consultant
- Possess the presentation, verbal and written skills: In order to become a good pre-sales resource, a good business acumen along with excellent verbal and written skills is essential. These skills are imperative for making a trusted advisor to the customer. Once a respectable trust over potential customers is established, the acceptance of proposed solution/product can happen. Only excellent knowledge about cyber security will be futile until the pre-sales security consultant is able to share it with the clients in an effective way. The delivery mechanism varies from person to person but it plays a crucial role in building trust. A security pre-sales resource needs to render live product demos, webinars, group lecture and many more. He / she should be thorough enough (w.r.t. technical skills, soft topics and have great business sense) to make a successful career.
- Deep Knowledge of Security Architecture and Design Experience: A security pre-sales resource should be proficient in security designs. He or she has to always balance the risk mitigation using their designs. They must know how to satisfy the customers and this can be achieved only if they know defense-in-depth and have command over security architecture. For almost all the organization security is important and the base is routers and switches. They must have a base understanding of routing and switching.
- Knowledge of the security solutions landscape and industry trends: If you want to become a successful security pre-sales resource for your organization then you must keep yourself updated regarding all types of solutions that can be thereof a problem. You don’t only need to be aware of the solutions but also know how to implement the solutions. They can be core, emerging, dying or stale.
- In-depth knowledge of the products that you will be selling: It is the core requirement of your job. Such a resource needs to have every minute detail of the product being sold. A security resource should be able enough from understanding datasheets to configuring the devices. Product understanding is a must for person in shoes of security pre-sales consultant.
- Personal Integrity and strong ethics: A sales engineer is the one who laid down the foundation of the success of the product. Hence such a person should possess personal integrity and strong ethics. If you want to achieve success for the long term then you have to work with ethics and always bind yourself with these. Don’t oversell your products with wrong means and knowledge. Once you lose the faith form the customer it becomes hard to win it again.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am here to share my knowledge and experience in the field of networking with the goal being – “The more you share, the more you learn.”
I am a biotechnologist by qualification and a Network Enthusiast by interest. I developed interest in networking being in the company of a passionate Network Professional, my husband.
I am a strong believer of the fact that “learning is a constant process of discovering yourself.”
– Rashmi Bhardwaj (Author/Editor)
