Orange Bridge Case Study

The Client

A leading managed security service provider (MSSP) that provides advanced cyber defense solutions to enterprise customers globally. The organization is a trusted Microsoft partner, with deep expertise in data protection, identity, and compliance and is acknowledged by industry analysts for innovation, reliability, and customer impact. Leveraging a workforce of over 1,200 cybersecurity professionals across North American and Europe, the client serves Fortune 500 customers in finance, healthcare, and technology sectors.

Client Objectives

The client was seeking to gain formal recognition from the Microsoft Security Excellence Awards as a strategic tool to reinforce their market position and demonstrate their cybersecurity innovation. Through the awards, they aimed to:

• Validate technical expertise through measurable customer outcomes, such as improved incident response times, advanced threat detection capabilities, and seamless integration with Microsoft's security solution suite
• Highlight real-world results for their customers, including enhanced compliance, reduced risk exposure, and improved operational efficiencies enabled by their managed services.
• Differentiate in a competitive market by clearly communicating their proprietary approach to security, such as innovative solutions, thought leadership, and contributions to the Microsoft ecosystem.
• Amplify organizational values by ensuring the submission reflected their commitment to diversity and customer advocacy.
• Build marketing assets by repurposing award content for future awards, public case studies, and promotional materials to create continuous value.

Aligning their award submission with these objectives would position the client to leverage tangible business results, including stronger credibility with prospective customers, strengthened partnerships, and enhanced visibility in the cybersecurity industry.

Client Challenges

Despite their reputation as a global market leader with a proven history of delivering innovative cybersecurity solutions, the client confronted complex challenges in translating deep technical excellence into a compelling narrative that would resonate with Microsoft Security Excellence Awards judges.

The client's SMEs were best-in-class at building and delivering security solutions, but were inexperienced in:

• Capturing the business impact of their solutions, such as risk reduction, ROl, or operational resilience, in a manner that would be influential to non-technical evaluators.
• Aligning to Microsoft's award criteria, including mapping their accomplishments to the nuanced scoring framework Microsoft deploys to assess innovation, customer success, and broader industry and community impact.
• Synthesizing diverse input materials and fragmented information across technical stakeholders, sales teams, and leadership, and integrating it into a single cohesive submission.
• Competing against larger global cybersecurity peers with years of experience creating award submissions.

Time added another complexity as the submission window was brief, and internal teams were already fully occupied with their daily tasks and delivering client work Without a polished and strategically framed entry, their groundbreaking security work could go unrecognized.

The Client's Journey with Orange Bridge

Understanding the importance of their submission, the client partnered with Orange Bridge to lead the end-to-end development of their Microsoft Security Excellence Awards entry. This required extensive cybersecurity knowledge, deep industry knowledge, and a thorough understanding of the Microsoft security ecosystem and solutions, including integrations across Microsoft Purview, Entra, Sentinel, and Security Copilot

We were initially engaged through an internal referral from a senior leader on their Microsoft alliance team, who had previously collaborated with us on other case study writing initiatives. Having seen the marketing impact of our work, expertise in cybersecurity and risk management, and demonstrated experience in creating tech industry award submissions, they recommended us as the right partner to help transform the organization's technical excellence into a winning award entry.

Orange Bridge's approach to the engagement included:

• Harnessing our Microsoft Security Excellence Awards questionnaire and framework, which is developed from years of working with the world's foremost cybersecurity innovators and winning hundreds of awards on behalf of our clients.
• Leveraging a proprietary methodology to guide strategy and ensure the submission captured the full scope of their leadership in the cybersecurity landscape while minimizing disruption to their day-to-day work and operations.
• Articulating a high-impact narrative aligned to all award requirements and evaluation criteria.

Results

With Orange Bridge's support, the client's submission was selected as one of the 2024 Microsoft Security Excellence Award Winners in a highly competitive category that recognized the managed security service provider globally for their innovation and leaderships in the Microsoft security ecosystem.

Winning this award provided exciting results for the client that extended far beyond the award recognition itself:

• Amplified market credibility: The award win positioned the client as a proven global leader in managed security services, strengthening their reputation with enterprise prospects and industry analysts.
• Increased visibility with Microsoft: The win strengthened their profile within Microsoft's partner ecosystem, deepening relationships with field sellers, technical specialists, and partner marketing teams, and accelerating joint go-to-market efforts.
• New business opportunities: The announcement drove a reported 25% increase in inbound interest from enterprise buyers and partners, opening doors to strategic accounts that had previously been out of reach.
• Reusable marketing assets: The award submission itself became a foundation for future marketing content, including new case studies, win wires, and analyst briefings, extending the value of their initial award submission investment.
• Internal momentum: The recognition enhanced morale across the organization, reinforcing their innovation culture and giving teams a renewed sense of pride in their work.

Ultimately, the engagement achieved exactly what the client set out to accomplish, which was securing top-tier industry recognition and fostering enduring brand and business impact. Orange Bridge is now the client's sole award submission partner. Our team looks forward to our continued partnership in the coming years as we build on the client's success to target other industry award platforms and categories, including the coveted annual Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards.