Custom Case Pros: How a 2-Person Defense Company Is Getting CMMC Certified

For small businesses in the defense industrial base, CMMC certification can feel like a mountain, especially when your entire operation runs on three devices out of a home office. But as Amber Provaznik, CEO of Custom Case Pros, discovered, the right partner makes all the difference.

Custom Case Pros is a technical packaging company serving the aviation, aerospace, and defense industries. When Amber and her husband Travis began exploring CMMC remediation, they were confident they were already in good shape. What they found surprised them.

In this testimonial, Amber walks through how she found RADICL, why she chose them over three other vendors, and what it's actually been like working through the CMMC process as a lean, on-prem, home-based business. 

Watch the full video above, or read the complete transcript below.

Full Custom Case Pros Customer Transcript

Interviewer: So to start with, can you say your name, your title and explain what Custom Case Pros does?

Amber: Sure. My name is Amber. I am the owner of Custom Case Pros. We are a technical packaging partner with Pelican Products, SKB cases, and other manufacturers that provide reusable packaging cases. And we use those cases and help design custom foam interiors or specialized hardware that helps protect assets for clients. And we end up primarily working in the aviation, aerospace and defense industries.

Interviewer: Awesome. And how did you first find RADICL?

Amber: I met RADICL at a trade show, I believe, in Overland Park, Kansas. They said that they helped out with CMMC remediation and gap assessments, and that kind of sparked the conversation because we were looking to start that process. So just kind of went from there.

Interviewer: Awesome. And did you shop RADICL against any other vendors?

Amber: I did. I want to say we interviewed 3 to 4 other companies that offered similar services, and I think we just decided, you know, it was affordable. RADICL was obviously experienced and very technical in nature, but just the personality connections that we had with Hayden and a few of the other individuals that were on the early calls — that's important to us, that we have that connection. If you're going to work with somebody and contract with somebody for a lengthy period of time. So it was a good one. So we decided to move forward.

Interviewer: Awesome. So how did the sales process go? Sounds like pretty well, but I don't know if there's anything else you can talk about — like any demo you got or any of that.

Amber: Oh goodness, that's been months ago so I'll have to remember. I think we did get a little bit of a demo into the platform. I believe Hayden was our salesperson, and maybe there were a few other technical folks that were on the call — sort of walked us through it, helped us understand what the process was going to look like. I know they were sort of developing some more products that would help later in the process as well at the time. So some of those were something we didn't cover at that time, but we were able to talk through the details of what got us started with RADICL and the remediation process, and moving on with our CMMC certification.

Interviewer: Awesome. And Tyler tells me that you have kind of a unique environment since it's actually in your house. Can you tell me about that?

Amber: Yes. So our business, we started home-based. I've actually been in this industry for 20-plus years and have been home-based — back before it was cool, before COVID. So we are a small environment. Like you said, just my husband and I. I own the company. We have three devices. Everything's local, on-prem. We don't host anything on the cloud. So in working with Tyler, he helped us understand how to sort of navigate some of the challenges that come with that. Not necessarily that it's challenging, but that it is a little bit unique in nature, as opposed to maybe some of the bigger or medium-sized companies that RADICL does business with on a regular basis. So Tyler has been absolutely wonderful. He's very detailed, explains things very well, which is important to me because there are a lot of things that are over my head. My husband Travis is the one that focuses more on the technical side of things and gets involved with the specifics that we work with Tyler on — but Tyler, in better terms, might — he can dumb it down for me. So he makes it really easy to understand. And he communicates well.

Interviewer: Excellent. So you started using RADICL for CMMC — is that still all that you're using RADICL for, or have you expanded to any other products?

Amber: Yes. So we started out with sort of the remediation piece — that was to look at our self-assessment and our current controls that are in place and sort of make sure that what we're attesting to is correct, and help us find those gaps and implement any of the changes that are needed in that process. That's the contract that we signed with RADICL to begin with. And we just last week added on additional services for managed security — so detection and response, incident response, and I think there are some training pieces in that as well. So that's going to help us move forward to maintaining what we've already established in our policies and procedures, and make sure all of that stays compliant as we move forward to do the actual audit. We're poised to complete our certification in September of this year. So both of those pieces are in place to help us get there successfully.

Interviewer: That's great. What is your favorite part of RADICL?

Amber: You know, it's an interesting question because, honestly, the certification piece of it and all of the technical details that come along with that are not my favorite thing in the world to have to deal with. So back to my point about Tyler and the team — communication is just very good. They're sort of pushing us, helping us stay on track, helping us meet our goals and action items, the follow-up after our regular meetings saying, "Here's what we accomplished. Here are your tasks moving forward," and then just helping us stick to that timeline. Because it would be easy — because this isn't necessarily a fun task — it would be easy to sort of push it to the side and not make it a priority. And RADICL has helped us with that, staying on task and making sure that we're hitting all the key points as we go along.

Interviewer: Excellent. Would you recommend RADICL, and if so why?

Amber: I would definitely recommend RADICL. Going into this process, we weren't sure if we needed a remediation team because we were very confident in where we stood in our self-assessment. But the thing I'm learning in this process is I'm really glad we decided to go through this procedure, because there were gaps we didn't know existed — whether it's misinterpreting a control or a requirement, or just knowing that the RADICL team has resources, suggestions, software, hardware, whatever those suggested pieces are that they help you put in place that we didn't even know we were missing. So to me, it was very — I didn't know it was important, but have now learned that it is. And I'm glad that we undertook this whole process. Yes. To get back to the answer to the question — I would certainly recommend RADICL to anybody looking to pursue their CMMC certification.

Interviewer: Excellent. Do you have any advice for organizations looking for compliance or cybersecurity solutions?

Amber: Gosh. You know, I want to say it was Hayden, or his counterpart, when we first met at that trade show — who made a statement to me about making sure that you choose your CMMC team, whether it's remediation or the assessment itself — making sure that you choose them like you would choose your surgeon. Because it's a very important piece of the mix and something that really helps you get the competitive advantage for your business. So treat it like that, and make sure that you choose the team you're going to contract with to help you achieve your certification. Just make sure it's a very educated decision that you make, and it's an important one. So like I said — choose them like you would choose your surgeon.

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