In a recent interview with Chase Hood, security engineering lead at AHEAD, we uncovered how the Swimlane Turbine low-code automation platform transformed AHEAD’s security operations (SecOps) leading to a 30% decrease in alerts. 

AHEAD is a leader in professional and managed services, supporting businesses of all sizes—from small enterprises to Fortune 500 companies. Their goal was to harness technology to create distinctive customer experiences, rapidly launch new digital products, and attain substantial efficiency improvements through automation and modernization. To accomplish this, security automation is essential, particularly for Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) like AHEAD. Security automation streamlines operations, reduces manual tasks, and enhances threat intelligence processes. This improves operational efficiency and enables MSSPs to focus on strategic initiatives and customer engagement. 

Before the AHEAD team adopted a security automation platform, they struggled with:

• Alert fatigue
• Disconnected and siloed tools
• Enabling growth and scalability
• Lack of analyst coding expertise

AHEAD needed a security automation solution that could address these SOC use cases and challenges, and help scale their service offerings, while being easy to build and maintain with limited developer or programming expertise. 

“When I joined AHEAD, I had no knowledge of automation or Swimlane,” Hood admitted. “Swimlane made it easy to pick up and begin developing automation and integrations.”

Continue reading to discover how Swimlane Turbine revolutionized AHEAD’s SecOps and read the full case study: How Ahead Reduces Alerts by 30% with Swimlane.

The Power of Low-Code Security Automation

Enter Swimlane Turbine, an AI-enhanced security automation platform, designed to make automation accessible even to those without extensive coding experience.

Despite a lack of automation experience AHEAD believed the learning curve with Turbine was minimal, and they saw immediate benefits with Turbine. The platform’s user-friendly interface and intuitive design helped AHEAD quickly develop automation solutions and playbooks that integrated seamlessly with their internal SOC and customers’ unique tech stacks. AHEAD embraced the art of low-code security automation and found it easy to build playbooks, applications, and direct integrations with technologies from various customers. 

“Swimlane Turbine makes it extremely easy to pick up and learn,” Hood shared. “We were able to start building playbooks, applications, and direct integrations with technologies from various customers, all without needing a deep coding background.”

Centralized Security Operations with a Single Pane of Glass

One of the most valuable outcomes of using Turbine for AHEAD is the platform’s ability to centralize AHEAD’s security operations. The analysts at AHEAD use Turbine case management as their central hub for all alert management and triage. This robust application allows them to handle threat intelligence with threat intelligence automation and automated lookups across various sources to streamline workflow and improve response times.

“We notify and get responses from customers all within a single pane of glass from the Swimlane dashboards,” Hood stated. “It has significantly improved our efficiency and effectiveness.”

Security Automation Fuels Business Growth

Turbine has enhanced AHEAD’s operational efficiency and contributed to their overall business success. Below are a few examples: 

• Improved Resource Allocation: Automating repetitive tasks and centralized threat intelligence processes have allowed AHEAD to allocate more resources to strategic initiatives and customer engagement.
• Business Growth: According to Hood, Turbine has transformed AHEAD’s operations, enabling better and faster services which have driven business growth.
• Fast Time-to-Value: Turbine’s intuitive yet robust features have enabled AHEAD to swiftly onboard new customers and scale efficiently.

The Significance of Seamless Security Automation 

AHEAD’s experience with Swimlane Turbine highlights the value of low-code security automation. For SecOps teams with little to no coding experience, Turbine is an accessible and powerful security automation platform that improves operational efficiency and business outcomes for MSSPs. As AHEAD’s experience shows, leaping automation doesn’t have to be daunting—with the right tools, it can be a seamless and profitable transition. 

“I recommend Swimlane to my peers because it offers a unified platform that effectively manages diverse customer environments, resulting in improved efficiency and scalability.”

• Chase Hood, Lead Security Engineer at AHEAD