You’re ready to head out for the weekend. You’ve checked for any new or anticipated incidents and problems, and made sure everything is up to date. But on Friday at 6:00 pm you get a surprise alert to an industry change that will cause half your certs to be revoked. Who are you going to call?

This is the kind of scenario that tests the support structure you have in place for your enterprise. When you’re putting a certificate strategy into place, you want to consider several factors beyond the price of the certs. Here are seven considerations:

  • Live support when you need it — Being able to pick up the phone or start a live chat with a dedicated expert when something unexpected happens is priceless. Email support also can be invaluable in matters less urgent but just as critical. For example, our support hours follow the sun for our global customers.
  • Support response time: How well is your CA staffed for support? Can you be assured that your organization is a priority for your CA?
  • Expertise – just as important as availability is availability of deep expertise when it’s needed. Will you be able to reach the right people when the chips are down?
  • Time to resolution – how quickly can you get the information and expertise you need to not just get the problem addressed, but solved?
  • Tools & Resources – make sure you have access to the tools and knowledge base available in place to avoid costly system outages due to expired certificates. A good tool can help you discover, control and automate the certificate lifecycle to mitigate the great majority of risks.
  • Notifications: Changes will happen unexpectedly. The key is to be able to count on your CA to communicate through different channels to ensure that you are notified quickly when of urgent changes can impact your business.
  • Dedicated resources: If there someone at your CA who you can talk to and ensure that your Web-PKI needs are met and your IT admins are successful?

Entrust Datacard stands behind our products and the brands that use them.  Customers rely on us as a trusted business partner providing expert advice and unmatched technical service and customer support to ensure business continuity.

If you’re interested in learning more about Entrust Datacard Certificate Solutions, click here.