The Story of the Three Little Martech Directors

Once upon a time, there were three little martech Directors. They each implemented their favorite martech tools so they could serve their customers better and be more successful. Because of this, they found themselves in charge of their own little cabins filled to the brim with customer PII.

Every day, their martech tool vendors would stop by to help at the cabin and while they were there, they took home a little PII. They always wanted more, but the martech Director had to be sure they only took what they needed. Every once in a while, big bad actors—usually wolves who sometimes disguised themselves as legitimate martech vendors—would try to steal the data. The martech Director really hated these wolves and kept hearing story after story about how they stole tons of PII from some other cabin. The stories told about how those Directors didn’t even realize their customer data was being taken, and that it went on for months. The fines were enormous, and customers no longer wanted to visit those cabins.

The three little martech Directors, smart as they were, all decided on different ways to handle this problem …

The first little Director decided that those stories were tall tales and very rare. He trusted his martech vendors and felt that his martech crew would prevent them from taking more data than they were allowed to take. He was also sure that his security helpers would catch any big bad actors who dared to steal PII. Unfortunately, his overconfidence got the best of him, and a year later, he became the subject of another one of those cautionary tales. His straw cabin just didn’t hold up.

The second little Director heard about an automated system that scans for anything that doesn’t go exactly as expected. He configured his new system with all the specific details for all the issues he knew about that might indicate a problem. He told the system to make sure martech vendor A only takes the PII in the red boxes. He also told it to let him know if any martech vendor showed up with a different uniform than usual, indicating that this might be a big bad actor impersonating a legitimate vendor.

Even though he started getting many false alerts, the Director felt like his cabin was safe. He continued to adjust his settings, getting more and more detailed. He expanded his uniform alert to also flag changes in haircuts and shoes, and he defined the exact size of the red boxes vendor A was allowed to take. He made hundreds of adjustments to perfect his system as he kept clearing the false alerts. It took a lot of time, but all was looking good.

Unfortunately, he found out that someone on his martech crew had accidentally started letting vendor A take home one full pallet of red boxes instead of just one red box. His system wasn’t configured to flag that exact scenario, so it went unnoticed for months. Then, a big bad actor started showing up impersonating a legitimate martech vendor. Even though the ‘vendor’ growled like a wolf, there was no alert because the disguise matched the exact uniform, haircut and shoes that the system was configured to match up. And, worst of all, the martech Director didn’t even think to configure the system to watch for a different wolf sneaking in through a small window, which unfortunately happened repeatedly before he found out. While this cabin made of sticks did a bit better, it still wasn’t enough.

The third little Director asked Vault JS to watch his cabin. The AI-based system immediately started looking for any and all suspicious behavior—whether it was something known in advance or unknown as a potential issue. It didn’t need to be told to look for the exact same uniform, haircut and shoes because it used its intelligence to determine whether anything looked suspicious.

When the AI did flag something, it was then escalated for review by a human expert at Vault JS headquarters. This expert looked deeper into the issue, and if it was determined to not be a threat, the issue was logged and closed.

The martech Director didn’t have to configure multiple settings or sort through any false alerts. He spent his time working with his crew to spruce up the cabin and improve marketing results.

One day, emboldened by the success at that other cabin, a big bad actor again disguised himself as a vendor. His disguise was perfect, but the Vault JS AI found his growling suspicious and elevated the incident for expert human review. The Vault JS expert immediately noticed the tail and knew that it was a wolf. The martech Director got a call moments later and stopped the big bad actor and the PII theft in its tracks. That’s when the Director realized that hiring Vault JS to help him build a cabin made of brick was a super smart move.

Are you responsible for protecting your customers’ PII from overzealous martech vendors, bad actors or simple mistakes? Let Vault JS give you the peace of mind you deserve, saving you from configuring automated scanners and sorting through false alerts and allowing you to use the best martech tools available with confidence.

Contact us today to learn more.