PCI Conference Shows What Separates TCT from the Crowd

It was the first day of the PCI Community Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The vendor showcase had just opened up, and TCT’s booth was already drawing a crowd. Maybe it was the message displayed across our backdrop: Keep Your PCI Sh*t from Hitting the Fan.

Or, maybe it was the fact that our customers and partners genuinely love TCT. We aren’t a typical corporate organization, and our compliance management software isn’t a typical tool. 

What is it that makes TCT different from other compliance companies? Here are some snapshots from the PCI conference.

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Meet TCT Portal Compliance Management Software

TCT Portal is a compliance management tool that was developed by a group of compliance professionals who have deep first-hand experience in the compliance trenches, across every facet of the industry. We built the tool that we dreamed of having ourselves back in the day.

We also form a strong, true partnership  with others who are in the trenches — our clients. Since inception, the company was founded on the premise of taking their input and feedback seriously, because we realize our users know what they need most from TCT Portal. On average, each release contains approximately 90% client requested functionality.

We have clients on the platform that have been there since the beginning, and we look forward to reconnecting with them each year at the conference.

The Impact of TCT Portal on Compliance Management

Each year, we go to the PCI conference with one objective: to help people make compliance management suck less. Period. We aren’t there to bamboozle anyone with a crafty sales pitch, we just want to have genuine conversations. 

I think folks found it refreshing to have that type of interaction with a vendor. We weren’t vomiting scripted sales pitches at people, we were just having real discussions about their needs and the synergies to TCT’s many and varied capabilities.

The PCI DSS conference has always been a fun one for TCT, because it’s our opportunity to connect personally with a ton of new people and long-time friends. In fact, the conference is our highlight of the year, because we get to witness firsthand the impact TCT Portal has on the lives of those dealing with compliance.

Compliance professionals are continuously discovering TCT Portal, and it’s changing the way they view compliance management. More and more, I see the same thing happen when someone learns about our compliance software for the first time. 

One of the greatest moments for me is when someone walks up to our booth and asks, “What is Total Compliance Tracking?” I love it, because I get to watch their face as they start to realize what it is that we do, and how we do it. The light bulb turns on and their faces light up as they realize the power of the tool that’s sitting right in front of them. 

In several cases, someone would come by the booth, catch on to what we do, and ask us to hold on — they’ll be right back. Moments later, they would be back with two of their colleagues and ask us to start over so their friends could hear about us too.

One assessment firm was contemplating using TCT Portal. We had some high-level conversations with one of their people. He went back to his team and said, “You need to talk to this vendor.” So the head of their PCI practice stopped by our booth for an in-depth conversation. 

Meanwhile, two different clients of ours saw this going on, and on their own initiative they walked over to this prospective customer and told them about their experience with TCT. It was unbelievably humbling and rewarding.

Tech Demos and Client Connections

It was an honor to be selected by the PCI Council to lead a tech demonstration of our compliance management system. TCT was selected to present last year, and we were pleased to be back again this year. 

This year’s tech demo topic: how to streamline complex compliance engagements. We provided an overview about how to manage complex compliance management engagements with technology. We walked through several options that can be leveraged in TCT Portal. 

Many of our clients go up against PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and more. With that many certifications, there is a ton of crossover and redundancy that comes into play. But TCT Portal does all of that work for you, and we’ll talk about how easy it can be to run engagements with multiple certifications.

We also hosted a reception for customers and partners. The event was set in a relaxed environment that allowed us to have open dialog and get to know other professionals as people. It was a great experience to get to know our customers better and to learn more about the various organizations that attended the event.

Connect with Us in Europe!

If you’re in Europe and planning to attend the PCI Europe Community Meeting in Dublin, you can see us there. This is the first year that TCT is participating at the Europe PCI conference. 

With TCT having clients spanning six continents today, this will be our first opportunity to meet face-to-face with our clients in the EU, and we’re looking forward to meeting new partners and clients as well. This will be a tremendous opportunity to share our love of efficient compliance management with a new group of people.

As with the North American conference, TCT will have a booth at the Europe conference. Stop by and say hi. Check out the giveaways and sign up for one of our events. Be sure to sit in on our tech demo as well!

In the meantime, keep coming back to the TCT blog. We’ll cover general security topics as well as PCI-specific topics as we march toward the Europe conference. We’ll also have some terrific PCI conversations on our podcast, “Compliance Unfiltered”.