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Winning & keeping contracts

Could a client's security check cost you the deal?

Six honest questions, about two minutes. Find out whether you could pass the security questionnaire that now decides who wins the contract, and what to sort before the next one lands. No jargon.

Microsoft Partner Cyber Essentials Certified 20+ years, plain English Fixed price, no lock-in
Why this keeps coming up

The security check now decides who gets shortlisted

Bigger clients have to vet who they trust with their data, so the questionnaire keeps landing on smaller suppliers bidding for the work. Here is what is really going on when one arrives.

How it starts

Your client passes the pressure down

Larger firms answer to their own auditors and insurers, so they push the same questions onto their suppliers. If you want their contract, you have to answer the form.

The usual ask

Cyber Essentials is the shorthand

Plenty of buyers simply ask for the certificate. Holding it answers most of the questionnaire in a single line. Not holding it can quietly drop you off the shortlist before anyone speaks to you.

What clinches it

Ready evidence wins the yes

Whether it is your policies, your settings or proof your logins are locked down, evidence you can produce on the day turns a nervous maybe into a quick approval.

Who is behind this

The straight version, from the person you would actually deal with

Eric, HiltDigital
"Most owners don't want a lecture about security controls. They want to know one thing: would we pass the check a client sends, and if not, what do we fix first. That is all this is. I look at what the form will actually ask, tell you straight where the gaps are, and give you the order to close them. I have spent twenty-plus years doing exactly this for places with a lot more than one contract on the line, so getting you ready is very doable. No jargon, no quote padded with kit you do not need."
Eric, HiltDigitalI will be the one you actually talk to . 20+ years sorting this out
Microsoft Partner Cyber Essentials certified (we hold the cert we help you pass) UK registered company Fixed price, no scope creep
If you want a plan, not just a score

Cyber Essentials Readiness Assessment

  • A clear read of exactly what a client's security check will ask you to prove
  • Every gap between where you are now and a confident pass, in plain English
  • The straight route to getting the Cyber Essentials certificate, if you need it
  • Your evidence pack pulled together: the policies and settings a buyer asks to see
  • A simple plan you own, so you are ready before the next form lands
Shortlist-proof,
on paper
The position to be in: the security questionnaire answered the same day, the certificate held, and security a reason you win work instead of losing it. Typically weeks away, not months.
Book a 15-min call
Start with the call. The assessment only follows if it is genuinely worth it for you.
Straight answers

The questions we get asked first

More and more, yes, and size is exactly why. When a bigger firm trusts a small supplier with their data or their systems, their own auditors and insurers expect them to check you first. That check often lands as a security questionnaire or a flat request for Cyber Essentials. It is rarely about doubting you. It is a box they have to tick to keep their own contract, and you are on the wrong side of it if you cannot answer.
Not usually. For most small businesses it is a self-assessment against five sensible controls, things like multi-factor logins, keeping software updated and sorting who has access to what. The work is in getting those controls actually in place and being able to show it, which is the bit people underestimate. That is what the readiness assessment is for: we find the gaps, tell you what to fix, and get you to a confident pass rather than a hopeful one.
Good, that is normal and it shortens the job. Plenty of businesses are most of the way there without realising it, they just cannot prove it on paper or have one or two real gaps. The assessment tells you honestly which parts are sound, which need tidying and which need fixing, so you are not paying to redo things that already work. You only act on what is genuinely missing.
Because you are paying for a straight answer, not an open meter. The fixed fee covers an architect looking properly at where you stand, telling you what a client will actually ask, and handing you a gap list and plan you own. You know the cost before we start. If any fix work follows, it is scoped openly from the assessment, never assumed and never a surprise.