The 2019 Fastest Growing Firms: Coalfire

Consulting: What were the main factors that contributed to your firm's exceptional growth?

Kehoe: To put it simply—the cloud! Over the past year, Coalfire conducted 50 percent more work in the cloud services space than the preceding year. Over 75 percent of our services are now focused on keeping businesses secure as they migrate to the cloud or keeping their cloud environments secure. Demand for cloud security services is extensive as organizations grapple with new cloud-based threat vectors, understanding what their role is in keeping their data secure in the cloud, and many other challenges that are unique to doing business in the cloud. 

Consulting: How is this year shaping up for your firm?

Kehoe: Very well—revenue growth is strong, and we continue to get smarter in the area of tracking and mitigating cyber threats through our R&D efforts. Our team is developing research that offers tools and insights to help businesses manage their environment, and our commitment to educating our clients and our team is paying off! Most of our practices are growing in the 20 percent and 30 percent range year over year, and client satisfaction continues to be high.

Consulting:  How would you describe your firm's outlook for 2020? 

Kehoe: Our outlook is very strong. We see some great opportunities in the following areas: Simplification—the proliferation of compliance and privacy requirements continues unabatedly. There is an urgent opportunity to help companies be smart and tackle these requirements in a coordinated fashion to free up scarce cyber talent that could otherwise be building new and integrating existing controls; Automation—automation also represents a huge opportunity. Cyber requirements are outpacing resource levels, and automation of cyber controls and reporting is critical to fill the gaps. 

Consulting: What are your firm's biggest challenges in 2020?

Kehoe: Attracting the best and brightest cyber specialists to come work for Coalfire. Our focus is on building the best culture and an environment that allows our employees to continually enhance their skills and provide innovative solutions to our clients. The firm is focused on automating as many of the mundane, simple tasks associated with the services we provide to enable our team to focus on the largest cyber problems and align them appropriately to business priorities.

Consulting:  What does being named a Fastest Growing Firm mean to your firm, employees and clients?

Kehoe: It is a great honor – one that validates the hard work, passion, and strong insights we provide to our clients. At the same time, it's an important reminder that we need to continue to innovate and foster a client-intimate environment that enables us to maintain and expand the relationships that we have. We aspire to be the number one provider of cybersecurity services to businesses running in the cloud—and that requires investment to stay on the cutting edge of cybersecurity with an acknowledgement that with technology advancing as quickly as it is today, the value we provide our clients will be dramatically different in just a few years. If we rest on our laurels, we'll never reach our goals.