Hotman Group, LLC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP Operations of Diligence International Group, LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Diligence International Group provides investigative and data-verification services, including claims investigations, due diligence, surveillance, background checks, asset tracing, and fraud-related support for insurers, law firms, financial institutions, and other businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Hotman Group, LLC to accomplish?

• Provide ongoing vCISO and GRC support, manage Diligence’s SOC 2 program and customer security questionnaires, and take ownership of recurring compliance activities so the organization can maintain an effective security and compliance program year-round.

SOLUTION

How did you find Hotman Group, LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Hotman Group, LLC over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Hotman Group, LLC were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Hotman Group helps us manage a large part of our ongoing security and compliance workload. They handle customer security questionnaires and follow-ups, maintain approved response content so we are not starting from scratch each time, and join customer calls when additional security questions come up. For SOC 2, they help plan the audit, coordinate directly with the auditor, collect and organize evidence, monitor recurring controls, complete user access reviews, follow up with our team and vendors when something is outstanding, and help track remediation items through completion. They also manage our security awareness and phishing program and help plan and run our business continuity, disaster recovery, and incident response tabletop exercises. As our business has changed, they have also helped us assess how new operations fit into our SOC 2 environment and supported the transition to a new GRC platform for managing controls, policies, evidence, and compliance activities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the biggest outcomes for us is that the recurring work required to keep our SOC 2 and security program running no longer depends on our leadership team remembering and managing every individual task. HG owns much of the recurring coordination required to keep our controls, audit activities, questionnaires, and security awareness program moving throughout the year. We now have repeatable processes for things like customer questionnaires, control reviews, user access reviews, audit evidence, and security awareness rather than treating them as one-off projects each time they come up. 

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

They are very hands-on about keeping things moving. We do not have to create a new task list for them every time something is due. They track recurring compliance work, follow up on evidence and open items, coordinate with the auditor and other vendors, and respond when customer security requests come in. They are also good about taking ownership of what they can and only pulling our team in when they actually need information or a decision from us.

What was your primary form of communication with Hotman Group, LLC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What has been most valuable for us is that they do more than tell us what needs to be done. They actually help run the work. They stay involved after the initial recommendations and help with the recurring controls, questionnaires, audit work, follow-ups, and other compliance tasks that have to happen throughout the year. For a small internal team, that makes a big difference.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Hotman Group, LLC could have done differently?

N/A