Building a Culture of Learning in Security Operations

By Alexandra Smith, CPTM

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Learning isn’t just a process reserved for children under 18 and college students. Learning is a continuous and cumulative process, one that is a fundamental part of the human condition. Continuing to learn and grow in one’s career – especially in cybersecurity – is more than just a professional advantage, it’s a requirement to succeed and stay relevant. Knowing that, employers are continually exploring new ways to encourage learning and training.

In information security, fostering a Learning Culture as a leading provider of cybersecurity managed services and solutions is how Deepwatch fulfills our mission to put customers at the front and center of everything we do. Investing in security experts can train and build true career pathways inside Deepwatch, our customers can extend their teams with top security talent that measurably strengthens their security programs.

What is an Organizational Learning Culture?

Implementing a Learning Culture benefits not just an organization, but the employees as well. A Learning Culture prioritizes encouraging their employees to understand the core values, business lines, and competencies within their organization. Having these priorities within a Learning Culture ensures that employees are continuously upskilling to better foster their skill sets and knowledge base for their current and future roles. Maintaining a strong culture of learning enables an organization to grow and succeed while the people that make it up succeed and thrive in their careers.

L&D and ROI

The link between engagement and business performance goes hand-in-hand. Deepwatch takes a cross between business-centric and demand-based learning vs. a learner-centric approach to learning. In a learning-centric environment training is evaluated from a learner reaction, with the main objective being the fulfillment of individual potential and the fostering of well-rounded employees. Although this may seem good for the employees, is it also good for business? When the business is not aligned to training, it yields little to no ROI.

A learner-centric approach is not linked to organizational goals. With that in mind, Deepwatch takes a demand-based learning approach from their L&D function which is consistent with a business-centric approach to training. Key benefits are increased ROI, strategically aligned training with business objectives, training delivery optimized for the right people at the right time, and increased skill retention and application. Using a demand-based approach to learning for a business is best suited to understand, adopt, and face the challenges of a competitive workforce. 

A study from the World Economic Forum and Association for Talent Development in 2019 shows that $4,435 is the average cost for hiring a new employee vs. the average cost of $1,300 for upskilling an employee. From this same report 60% of employees believe their current skill set will become outdated within the next 3-5 years, and this group also acknowledges that they need to learn new skills to remain competitive in their field.

Why is a Learning Culture Important in Cybersecurity?

We strive to solve tomorrow’s problems today. Employees are the beating heart of every organization. Investing in their growth through continuous support, learning, and upskilling helps make employees feel valued. Having a place where the Learning Culture thrives is paramount in attracting and retaining top talent for highly technical organizations.

In cybersecurity, especially here at Deepwatch, the model is even more critical when we talk about supporting Deepwatch customers and our mission. Our SecOps talent is the best of the best – and we keep them at the top with paid training in the latest certifications and security programs. Helping our employees stay at the top also pays dividends for our customers – it’s much easier to relax knowing that the best trained minds in security have their back.

As an example, security professionals at Deepwatch recently completed the Splunk Security Fundamentals Training course, with 100% compliance. As Splunk’s #1 MSSP partner, we certainly value our technology relationship to better serve customers with best-in-class SIEM technology. Beyond that, Splunk’s SIEM serves as the foundation of the Deepwatch SecOps platform. With ongoing training coming straight from our partners like Splunk, the momentum with which the security and EIT teams serve our customers is accelerated and the outcomes are enhanced. This type of training is how we work with technology partners like Splunk to ensure Deepwatch customers have the cloud security they need.

Learning Culture and High Performers 

An employee’s day-to-day operations can take over their desire and need for upskilling. By creating a learning culture, we ensure employees devote work hours to upskilling and enabling themselves to set up for success. Deepwatch recognizes the importance of fostering a culture of learning as this enables their employees to grow, achieve and align with the company’s goals. 

All top performers have one thing in common, they constantly stay abreast of industry-leading trends. By creating a learning culture this enables all employees to perform at those high levels. This also creates a collaborative environment in which our workplace is full of passionate people who inspire one another.

Are you looking for qualified, trained security professionals to help you strengthen your security program and watch your network 24/7? Contact Deepwatch for more information on how our security experts, Cloud SecOps platform, and integrated technologies can help elevate security, manage risks, and stay ahead of threats.

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