At a Glance
Company
DeepSeas is a full‑suite cybersecurity firm offering a variety of cybersecurity services, including MDR, SIEM monitoring, and CISO advisory services to businesses of all sizes.
Challenge
- Manual onboarding and risk discovery processes took weeks
- Difficulty scaling advisory services across diverse clients
- Lack of standardized, repeatable workflows
- Time-consuming reporting to executives and boards
- Difficulty engaging non-technical leadership in security conversations
Solution
- Centralized platform to manage CISO advisory services
- Standardized, yet flexible workflows
- Guided, interactive client-specific risk assessments
- Centralized visibility into risk posture
- Clear, executive-facing visuals and reporting
Impact
- Scaled to over 100 CISO advisory clients in under two years
- 50% faster onboarding and assessments
- 2-3x faster cadence reporting for executives and the board
- 75% more effective at engaging clients on security priorities
- Improved client retention through ongoing engagement and visibility
Background
DeepSeas’ CISO Advisory Services is led by John Mattis, a seasoned CISO who is now guiding their fractional CISO practice. The team predominantly serves startups and small to mid‑size businesses needing security leadership but not yet ready to hire full‑time staff.
The Challenge
Prior to Cynomi, DeepSeas faced several operational and strategic challenges that hindered its ability to grow, deliver consistently, and engage effectively with clients.
- Manual onboarding and risk discovery slowed early engagement
Client onboarding and risk assessments were handled manually, often taking weeks to complete. This delay made it difficult to build momentum early in client relationships and slowed the delivery of actionable insights. - Difficulty scaling across diverse industries and client sizes
DeepSeas served organizations ranging from early-stage startups to large enterprises. Without a structured and repeatable process, it was challenging to deliver high-quality advisory services efficiently across such a wide range. - Time-intensive cadence reporting for executives and boards
Reporting was largely manual, requiring consultants to recreate risk narratives and status updates for each engagement. As the client base grew, this reporting load became a bottleneck. - Difficulty communicating cyber risk to non-technical stakeholders
Explaining cybersecurity priorities to executives without a technical background was a recurring challenge. Security often felt abstract or disconnected from business objectives, which led to reduced engagement at the leadership level.
The Solution
To overcome these challenges, DeepSeas implemented Cynomi as its centralized cybersecurity and compliance management platform for delivering, managing, and scaling its advisory services across clients.
The results of implementing Cynomi:
Centralized platform to manage end-to-end CISO advisory services
Cynomi is the operational hub for DeepSeas’ advisory work, consolidating risk assessments, policy creation, task management, compliance management, and more, in one place.
“I use Cynomi on just about every call I’m on with every client that I have… it’s just extremely valuable to what we do day in, day out.”
– John Mattis, Practice Leader of CISO Advisory Services, DeepSeas
Cynomi is also used as a powerful demo tool during initial client conversations, helping DeepSeas stand out early in the sales process.
Standardized and flexible CISO advisory workflows
Cynomi enabled DeepSeas to build structured, repeatable processes that adapt to each client, from startups to large enterprises.
“We’ve been able to standardize the practice while still maintaining a high level of flexibility across our different customers.”
– John Mattis, Practice Leader of CISO Advisory Services, DeepSeas
Guided, interactive risk assessments tailored to each client’s business context
DeepSeas can run tailored, multi-framework evaluations that quickly surface the most relevant risks. The platform’s built-in guidance makes the process intuitive for both consultants and clients.
Centralized visibility into risk posture across domains and assets
Cynomi consolidates technical scan inputs into a single view of organizational risk. This gives DeepSeas a current, contextual understanding of each client’s security posture across all domains.
“You’re able to create illustrative visuals that executives can look at and say, okay, I understand where security lies in my company and why it’s important.”
– John Mattis, Practice Leader of CISO Advisory Services, DeepSeas
Fast, streamlined cadence reporting for executives and boards
With Cynomi, consultants can generate regular updates and progress reports much more efficiently. These reports are used in monthly check-ins, quarterly business reviews, and board presentations.
Visual tools that clarify security priorities for executives and boards
One of the most impactful aspects of Cynomi is its executive-facing visualizations. Interactive visuals like Cynomi’s “risk analysis spider graph” help leaders quickly understand risk maturity and key priorities.
The Impact
By adopting Cynomi, DeepSeas transformed its CISO advisory services into a scalable, repeatable, and high-impact operation. The platform became central to both how the team delivered services and how they engaged clients – driving measurable improvements across onboarding, reporting, and client retention.
Crucially, Cynomi helped bridge the gap between cybersecurity and business leadership. With intuitive visuals and clear, contextual narratives, DeepSeas was able to bring security into the boardroom and make cyber risk understandable, relevant, and actionable for non-technical executives. This shift led to stronger alignment with business goals, faster executive buy-in, and deeper client engagement.
With Cynomi, DeepSeas achieved impressive results:
Scaled to over 100 CISO advisory clients in under two years
Cynomi gave DeepSeas the structure to expand rapidly without needing to scale headcount at the same pace. With standardized workflows and centralized tools, the team was able to onboard and manage over 100 advisory clients in under two years.
“I probably would not have been able to accomplish as much as I had accomplished without having Cynomi as close to me as they were.”
– John Mattis, Practice Leader of CISO Advisory Services, DeepSeas
50% faster early engagement delivery
Risk assessments, onboarding, and the initial findings report used to take weeks. With Cynomi, DeepSeas cut this by at least half, giving clients a faster path to insight and action.
“We see at least a 50% increase in speed and efficiency… in the early stages of an engagement.”
– John Mattis, Practice Leader of CISO Advisory Services, DeepSeas
Two to three times faster creation of progress reports and client updates
Recurring reporting, whether monthly, quarterly, or for the board, became significantly more efficient.
“Being able to leverage the artifacts from Cynomi has increased our speed by at least two to three times when producing cadence reports.”
– John Mattis, Practice Leader of CISO Advisory Services, DeepSeas
75% more effective in driving client engagement on security priorities
Clients onboarded through Cynomi grasp their security needs much more quickly.
Stronger client retention through ongoing engagement
By embedding Cynomi into client workflows, reporting, and compliance tracking, DeepSeas created longer-lasting, more valuable relationships. Clients began to rely on the platform as their ongoing source of cybersecurity truth.
“The more they [clients] use that tool [Cynomi], the more likely they are to stay with us because they start to rely on it for updates.”
– John Mattis, Practice Leader of CISO Advisory Services, DeepSeas
Differentiating with Cynomi
Cynomi has become a foundational part of how DeepSeas delivers, presents, and manages its CISO advisory services. It is actively used by the entire consulting team, forming the backbone of both client engagements and internal operations. The platform enables DeepSeas to present a polished, structured, and modern advisory approach from the very first call, setting the tone for differentiated service.
As DeepSeas continues to expand its advisory practice, Cynomi remains a key differentiator, supporting the firm’s ability to scale efficiently, adapt to each client, and strengthen its position as a trusted cybersecurity partner.