Nexa

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the telecommunications manager for an educational agency for innovation, so I'm in charge of our IT infrastructure. My company is around 17 years old, and we work to bring technology to every student and teacher in Uruguay. We also have technology programs for teachers and have a big portfolio of things we deliver to our educational system.

One of the most important parts of our services is the educational platforms we provide. Our platforms include a library, an LMS, an English learning platform, and a video-conferencing system. We also provide internet access to every school in Uruguay and have a one-laptop-per-child program.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nexa?
Our platforms require content to populate our educational programs, and these programs need a solid IT infrastructure. Although part of my team is in charge of this infrastructure, we needed an excellent partner to help us manage it.

For this purpose, we required a great company like Nexa to be our partner and not just a service provider. Our goal was to create an excellent relationship with them. It was very important for us to find an organization that could understand our business and priorities and that could work with us every day.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
Nexa provides us with IT infrastructure management services. I'm only in charge of the telecommunications area within my company. However, Nexa also provides other services regarding cybersecurity.

What is the team composition?
We currently work with a service manager, a technical leader, two database administrators, and three technicians. If needed, Nexa can bring other specialists to the project, so their team isn't always the same. I also work directly with Facundo (Founder & CEO) and Juan (COO).

How did you come to work with Nxa?
My company originally started working with Nexa in 2017, and I joined by the end of 2020, so I can't talk about how we found them. However, it's worth mentioning that we're a public company that receives governmental support, so our vetting processes are public. Moreover, I know that everyone who has worked with them in the past is very happy with their services, so we hired them again for a new contract.

How much have you invested with them?
We pay Nexa by the hour, so the project budget isn't set. Still, for this contract, we have a cap of $200,000 for the whole year.

What is the status of this engagement?
Our newest contract started in July 2023, and it is for one year. Still, before this contract, we had already worked with Nexa from 2017–2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

As mentioned previously, it was very important for us that Nexa understood our business. Therefore, their impact is not only about their technical capabilities and professionalism but also about their empathy and engagement with us. Nexa is a great team with excellent technical knowledge, especially regarding database administration.

Overall, Nexa has always been a great provider and an excellent and very professional team. Although I don't work directly with them every day, I've received great feedback from my teammates — they're very happy with Nexa.

Database administration was something we really needed in 2023, so we were very happy to have them with us last year, helping us with different issues. Besides their technical capabilities, productivity, and empathy, Nexa is also a very agile team, so I would like to highlight that.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?
Nexa is very good at managing projects. Throughout the engagement, we've faced various IT problems, and Nexa has been a great support team in that regard.

Regarding budget management specifically, by the end of 2023, we spent more than we planned. However, those overages were caused by different problems and issues we needed to take care of, so it wasn't Nexa's fault. In fact, they always deliver on time and offer great response times, so we're very happy with them.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?
We've worked with other service providers, and our standard benchmark is always Nexa. Something worth mentioning is that I joined my company at the end of 2020, and that was the final month of our first contract with Nexa. Due to the pandemic, we had administration problems on our side. Still, their team was really engaged in trying to help us solve those issues and providing us with advice.

Are there any areas they could improve?
I can't think of anything Nexa could improve on. As a company in the public sector, costs are something we take into account very seriously, so it would be great if they lowered their costs. However, this isn't an issue right now because we always know and understand the prices they give us for the level of service we receive.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Have confidence in them; they're a great team. Work with Nexa as a partner and leverage their knowledge; they're a provider that will help your organization look forward.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CIO of a healthcare company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Company dedicated to patient care and health

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Nexa to accomplish?

• Pent Test
• physical hacking
• good practices in development and patches and configuration of servers

SOLUTION

How did you find Nexa?

Referral

Why did you select Nexa over others?

• Referred to me
• ethics and passion for what they do

How many teammates from Nexa were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

In these years with the company Nexa we have done various jobs.

• Penetration test: associated with internal and external applications, once completed, a report on the findings and method of correction was delivered.
• Training of good practices: Awareness talks for technical teams
• Physical Hacking: scheduled intrusion instances and with findings and their documentation and way to mitigate problems

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

documentation of findings, training on how to improve, references to good practices

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The company has grown since I started with it and you can see the professionalization, before everything they do everything now they assign a PM to the account that follows the topic

What was your primary form of communication with Nexa?

In-Person Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Here I have always been surprised by the taste and pleasure for what they do and it is reflected in the work. In addition to my part to talk about the interests for my industry

Are there any areas for improvement or something Nexa could have done differently?

I believe that there are and they are constantly changing, I value the search for feedback from the client to continue improving and that in some cases it helps to manage professionalism and closeness

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CTO of a technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nexa?

We needed a company that could conduct an ethical hacking of our mobile application to help strengthen its security.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started the engagement with a kick-off meeting where we defined the project’s scope. They then started conducting the ethical hacking of our mobile app. They conducted two different testing processes. The first one was with our basic application, and the second one was more specific. After that, they sent us an email detailing all of the issues they found, along with recommendations and possible solutions. We finished the engagement with a meeting, wherein we further discussed the different solutions they proposed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a testing leader, two hackers, and a commercial manager from Nexa.

How did you come to work with Nexa?

I reached out to someone I knew that works for Nexa.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $6,700 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2022–January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Nexa provided a detailed report with very specific and useful information about the issues they identified. They also described the specific hacking process through which they found each of these issues and provided great recommendations for solving them.

How did Nexa perform from a project management standpoint?

Nexa performed well in terms of project management. We communicated directly with the team leader at all times. They communicated all critical issues via email, and their response time was very good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Nexa team was incredibly professional and provided valuable insights throughout our engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were very happy with their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CIO of a Marktech that develops a suites of products B2B oriented.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Nexa?

We hired nexa in order to:

• perform recurrent pentests againt some solutions we develop
• analyze our infrastructure in AWS from security POV
• help identify some security troubleshooting in vendor libraries

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We've been working with them since 2020, at the beggining we made some interviews with another cybersec companies, and they seemed to be the more profesionals.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Pentest:

• Explain to NEXA our solutions & product
• Provide an aisoleted and freezed environment to perform the tests
• NEXA performs the pentest
• NEXA give us the report with analysis and vulnerabilities found
• We perform the fixes based in NEXA suggestions and documentation
• NEXA performs a 2nd check in order to validate the fixes were applied Infrastructure

Support:

We made several calls and meets in order to explain how our product and infra in AWS works, and after that NEXA helps us to identify weak spots that we should enhance or fix (from the performance and security POV)

Specific Help in Cybersec Sometimes our clients raise some concerns & suggestions about security issues, and NEXA helps us to identify and categorize this information to provide our clients with a solid answer.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Comercial CEO (Facundo) CTO (Andres) CIO (Infrastructure, Juan) PM (Diego) Cybersec SR (Sebastián, Javier)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We don't have a specific correlative impact (from the economic perspective), but we definitely are more solid in terms of security

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent, they comply with the times; they even make several calls with our developer team to explain some vulnerabilities and how to fix them.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I think they are very professional. They gave us the time and attention that we needed.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No from my perspective

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of operations at an electronic cigarette manufacturer and seller in the US. In my role, I’m responsible for implementing technical solutions within the company, as well as other solutions for our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nexa?

We hired Nexa to be our cybersecurity partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nexa provides us with their cybersecurity expertise. Their team has come in to review and audit our IT infrastructure and provide us with a cybersecurity assessment document with their feedback. All of their services have been off-site.

What is the team composition?

We work with three teammates from Nexa: an engineering team leader, an account manager, and an engineer.

How did you come to work with Nexa?

I wasn’t part of the hiring process, and the person in charge no longer works at my company. Still, I believe Nexa came as a recommendation while we were doing research.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Nexa’s work tends to be thorough and well-thought-out. They follow directions well and almost always think of scenarios that we might haven’t thought about. Given that they do this kind of work for other clients, they bring the great level of expertise that they’ve developed with experience to the table — that’s what we’re looking for.

How did Nexa perform from a project management standpoint?

Nexa offers timely responses, acknowledges their work, and delivers on the agreed-upon timelines almost always. This is a complicated project, so it’s not always possible to meet the deadlines. However, whenever some task will be delayed, they let us know in advance.

We communicate via email and Microsoft (MS) Teams. On MS Teams, we have a channel dedicated to this project where members of both teams can communicate, share files, and provide updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Nexa has done a lot of work with clients in regulated industries, which is great for us. Cybersecurity is one thing, but being able to understand the regulatory requirements of cybersecurity is a whole other thing.

We’re regulated by the FDA, and Nexa has done a lot of work regarding FDA regulatory compliance, which adds value to their cybersecurity services. For example, they know different classifications of cybersecurity usage for applications; that kind of knowledge isn’t easily findable on other service providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any areas of improvement for Nexa. They’ve done exactly what we’ve hired them to do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear and prescriptive in your requirements and do constant checks to ensure that the work being done is what you’re asking for. If you’re clear on what you want, they’ll do what you need them to do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of IT of a tools importing and distribution company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Nexa Inc?

We needed help with IT services for everything related to our SQL database.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nexa Inc has provided maintenance and a follow-up of improvement indicators, based on which they make improvement proposals to enhance our database’s performance. Among the suggestions they made is a risk analysis to help us create an action plan to face a potential database failure of a server’s breakdown. In addition, they’ve helped us with support for our Linux UC 10 OS.

What was the team composition? 

We’ve worked with two members of their team, including an IT manager and someone from their support staff.

How did you come to work with Nexa Inc?

Nexa Inc was recommended to us by our previous service provider, and after the first interview, they seemed professional, so we started working with them.

How much have you invested in them?

So far, we’ve spent around $5,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’re trustworthy, solid, and provide great added value to our business — their services are essential. 

How did Nexa Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re perfect with meeting timelines, staying within budgets, and overall project management, which is very important for us — knowing that we could find an alignment with them in that regard has been key for us. Moreover, they’re flexible but always careful about finding the proper time to work in a way that doesn't interfere with our business.

Regarding tools, we use phone calls and WhatsApp besides our ticketing system — it depends on the urgency of the matter we want to communicate to them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their best attributes are professionalism, neat work, and the documentation they provide after finishing any project. Nexa Inc creates clear instructional materials that have saved us a lot of work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can be sure that they will adapt to your requirements and time availability.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an infrastructure manager at an integrated solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nexa?

We needed help with database management.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nexa provides us with database management and cybersecurity support. They’re primarily tasked with managing one of our client’s 40 databases.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people from Nexa, including a project manager, a database expert, an SQL expert, and one other person in charge of reporting.

How did you come to work with Nexa?

We found Nexa through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $10,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Since we started working with Nexa, we haven’t had any issues or downtimes with our client’s databases.

How did Nexa perform from a project management standpoint?

Nexa excels at project management. They’re highly accessible and always responsive to our requests and questions. They’re also quick to resolve any support tickets.

We use OTRS as our ticketing system and Microsoft Teams for communication and project management. We also communicate through email, video calls, and WhatsApp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed with Nexa’s data management expertise and experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to give them the freedom to do their work and to trust their opinion, because they always provide great advice and ideas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CTO of a Software Factory

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Nexa?

We hired Nexa for two different projects and services:

1. Recurring pentests on a SaaS solution with multiple APIs and standalone applications running on the client servers.
2. Advise and propose a secure architecture for a wearable device, which was to be approved and regulated by the FDA.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Word of mouth. We heard nothing but good things about their service.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We partnered for a diverse set of Cybersecurity projects and activities such as:

• Cybersecurity and Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SSDLC) training & awareness workshops
• Secure infrastructure, architecture & application analysis, and design for our company.
• Cybersecurity practices auditing. 
• "White box" development lifecycle code analysis, infrastructure management, component management, integration, and risk assessment, proactively identifying security risks and addressing the corresponding remediation with the team. 
• Final "black box" quality assurance activities for the company, clients, and partners, including penetration tests for release candidates and running products, producing complete prioritized diagnosis documentation, recommendations, and remediation alternatives.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

• 1 Security Advisor
• 2 Senior Engs.
• 1 Project Leader

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Every time they executed a pentest, they found high vulns. They won't stop until they do. The wearable device solution was approved by FDA.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Smooth process and well communicated. Very flexible in terms of process. Agile and result-oriented.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The "hand-crafted" services they provide. Plenty of these companies in the market offer similar services, but all those will run automated tools and hand over the reports. This is different; they think out of the box.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a digital agency that does website development for mostly US clients. We also provide digital marketing and data analytics services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nexa?

We hired Nexa to help us with the IT security of the products we developed for our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their engagement?

Nexa conducts corporate penetration tests for websites and applications. In this process, they help us find many vulnerabilities and technical security problems, which they compile in a PDF report. Currently, they are providing maintenance services for us.

What is the team composition?

I work with three people from their team, including Andres (CTO & Director) who’s our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Nexa?

We found out about them through Andres, who’s a former employee of our company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $10,000 on this project.

What is the status of the engagement?

We started working with them in April 2022, and our engagement is still ongoing. We plan to keep working with them in the future for consultations and monitoring our infrastructures.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Their work has exceeded our expectations. Initially, we expected them to come up with 10–15 vulnerabilities, but they gave us 16 in their report, and a couple of those issues were critical.

How did Nexa perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done surprisingly well in this regard and continue to deliver on time. We mainly communicate via phone calls and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed that they’ve adhered to all deadlines because we usually see a lot of slippages in this industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re doing just fine.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to define the scope of work carefully to ensure a successful project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a uruguayan stockbroker company. I am currently working in trading desk and I also coordinate projects related to automation and IT.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Nexa?

We were looking for a n external cybersecurity company to perform a security audit of our website. Because we work in financial services, confidenciality and data integrity are high priority and we needed to make sure there were no potential risks we were not aware of.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We compared two local companies and finally chose Nexa because we felt their approach was more suitable for our company's needs.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They performed a thorough security audit of our website and web apps, identifying potential risks in our infrastructure. They carry out a penetration testing to scan for vulnerabilities. After they finished, they delivered a report on all of our risks and provided a list of security recommendations. Our IT department is now working on the detected issues.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had a team formed by the CTO as the project leader, a technical account manager and customer success responsible. Also an ethical hacking team of 8 professionals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

They were able to identify some critical risks that we are now working on. Recommendations were really helpful. We believe they were really thorough with their work.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was effective enough.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We appreciate that they offered multiple solutions to suit our budget.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We believe there are no areas for improvements that we know of.