Next up in #SilverLiningPivots – our series on Foley Hoag LLP clients who are adapting for growth despite market disruption – is my partner Colin Kirby’s client, Shift5, a Washington, DC-based cybersecurity company focused on preventing cyber attacks against certain military assets and securing critical operational technology systems like heavy equipment and mobility platforms.
At the start of the shutdown, while Shift5’s core Federal customers were occupied orienting themselves to a WFH environment, Shift5 took the opportunity to self-assess and innovate internally – leading the company through a values workshop, top-to-bottom job description reviews, a comprehensive budget and financial sensitivity analysis, and developing robust written strategies for each business unit. Once Federal officials started to resume activities, Shift5 was poised to respond with stronger products and better quality of service. With a revised go-to-market strategy that added new cost-cutting value propositions to existing security benefits and increased awareness of the need to protect against black swan events, Shift5 has been accelerating in commercial business development and expanding its market beyond its core Federal customers.