How Gerson Lehrman Group Secured Its Expanding Global Network with the Axonius Asset Cloud Platform
Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) is the world's largest insight network. For over 15 years, GLG has connected leaders from over half of the Fortune 100 companies to its global team of 1.2 million experts, providing financial information and advice to inform smarter business decisions.
Key Challenges
Lack of unified visibility: Asset data was fragmented across systems, creating blind spots.
Inefficient collaboration: IT and security teams struggled to access consistent, centralized data.
Manual effort: Investigating incidents or managing device rollouts involved time-consuming cross-tool navigation.
Expanding complexity: As GLG added new tools and scaled teams, its cyber asset attack surface became harder to manage.
Axonius is definitely one of the most-used tools for us right now. It saves time we can spend on other things. We get responses immediately. They’re one of the best vendors I’ve worked with.
Securing client-expert connections with unparalleled visibility
Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) is the world’s largest insight network. For more than 15 years, GLG has helped decision-makers at over half of the Fortune 100 gain expert perspectives through live consultations with a global network of over 1.2 million industry specialists. With operations spanning the globe and a workforce of nearly 2,800 employees, GLG empowers smarter business decisions in real time.
Introduction
When Brian Wendland joined GLG as a Security Operations Engineer, he stepped into a fast-moving environment filled with global complexity and bold ambitions. The company had grown rapidly. Its platform now connected clients in finance, law, tech, and healthcare to experts across continents. But with this growth came new challenges, particularly in IT and security.
"We had a lot of tools. A lot of assets. And a lot of spreadsheets," Wendland recalls.
Keeping pace with an expanding ecosystem of freelance experts, clients, and devices meant GLG’s four-person security team was stretched thin. Asset visibility had become patchy. Collaboration across IT and security teams was inefficient, and efforts to maintain secure, real-time interactions across such a vast network were hindered by outdated, fragmented asset tracking.
Previous Situation
Before Axonius, GLG tracked assets the old-fashioned way: spreadsheets and manual processes. Information lived in silos. Trying to piece together what they owned, where it lived, and who used it required endless toggling between tools like Azure, Intune, and CrowdStrike.
Security incidents were especially taxing. Investigations that should have taken minutes stretched into hours. With each new tool GLG deployed, its attack surface grew, and visibility shrank.
It was just too much...We needed one place to see it all.
Challenges
Lack of unified visibility: Asset data was fragmented across systems, creating blind spots.
Inefficient collaboration: IT and security teams struggled to access consistent, centralized data.
Manual effort: Investigating incidents or managing device rollouts involved time-consuming cross-tool navigation.
Expanding complexity: As GLG added new tools and scaled teams, its cyber asset attack surface became harder to manage.
When GLG launched a full-scale CrowdStrike deployment, the team hit a wall.
We needed a better way to track rollout progress. We were migrating from older agents and needed real-time insight into what was done and what wasn’t.
Consequences
Without a change, GLG faced several risks:
Security gaps from unmanaged or misconfigured devices
Slow incident response during critical events
Delays in compliance with ISO and other standards
Wasted time that could be better spent on proactive initiatives
"The cost of inaction wasn’t just inefficiency. It was increased risk," says Wendland.
Solutions
Enter Axonius. GLG deployed the Axonius Asset Cloud Platform with Actionability and never looked back.
"Axonius was the first solution our CISO brought up, and we immediately saw the value."
GLG leveraged Axonius to:
Replace manual spreadsheets with automated, real-time asset inventory
Build dynamic dashboards to track CrowdStrike deployments across servers and endpoints
Accelerate discovery of AWS workspaces, Macs, and compliance gaps with just a few clicks
Expand visibility to all of core engineering (including Help Desk, SRE, DRE, and Compliance teams)
Enhance collaboration with shared access to asset intelligence
Prepare for ISO certification using Axonius queries to generate evidence for auditors
"Some of our developers needed to know the chipsets on their Macs. Before Axonius, it would have taken days. Now it takes minutes," Wendland says.
The CrowdStrike rollout was a turning point. Axonius made it possible to track installs, removals, and adoption trends, all in real time. The dashboard became a daily tool, even shared with GLG’s CEO.
This has become our go-to system. When someone says, 'We need a dashboard for this,' the answer is Axonius.
Results:
Replaced spreadsheets with a unified, real-time view of assets
Enabled 12 critical adapter integrations (AWS, SentinelOne, Rapid7, Jamf, Entra, and more)
Reduced investigation and response time from hours to minutes by consolidating views across tools
Increased usage across IT org: Help Desk, DRE, SRE, Compliance, and Security
Streamlined ISO compliance preparation with automated asset queries
Accelerated AWS workspace discovery and CrowdStrike agent tracking
Laid groundwork for server/device compliance workflows using Axonius Enforcement Center
"Axonius is definitely one of the most-used tools for us right now. It saves time we can spend on other things. We get responses immediately. They’re one of the best vendors I’ve worked with."
GLG isn’t slowing down. Plans are already in motion to add more connectors, expand device compliance checks, and refine adapter scoping.
"The product keeps growing with us... Every week there’s a new feature or performance enhancement. That’s what you want in a tool that’s core to your cybersecurity stack."
Get Started
Discover what’s achievable with a product demo, or talk to an Axonius representative.