RSAC 2025 officially opened its doors on April 28, 2025, drawing a crowd of over 40,000 cybersecurity professionals. The exhibit halls were energetic, featuring more than 600 vendors, from traditional booths to attention-grabbing exhibits with goats, claw machines, puppies, and everything in between. As always, the environment was packed with swag, noise, candy, and a fair bit of sensory overload. However, beyond the noise and spectacle, there was no shortage of compelling technology, insightful conversations, and an array of sessions to explore.
How to Cut Through the Noise?
With so much happening at once, we found ourselves missing several booths we had planned to visit, including not making it to the Early-Stage Expo, which is typically a hub for promising start-ups. That experience sparked a question: How can practitioners effectively navigate this overwhelming vendor landscape to identify the solutions that truly meet their needs?
To explore this, we spoke with Cyber Security Tribe Advisory Board Member and CNA Corporation’s Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Rizwan Jan. He offered candid insights, emphasizing that chasing flashy new tools isn't the answer. Instead, the focus should be on reducing friction and solving current challenges. He also emphasized that the human factor can’t be overlooked, adopting new technology is as much about people as it is about products.
With over 600 vendors exhibiting at RSAC 2025 and many with similar solutions or ones that address the same challenge, how do you decide who to talk with and which ones are of interest?
Rizwan Jan: “Let’s be real—600 vendors, most pitching “cutting-edge” solutions that sound exactly like the booth next to them? It’s overwhelming, and frankly, exhausting. My team is already drowning in tools that promise transformation but deliver confusion. We’re dealing with serious tech fatigue: too many dashboards, too many logins, and not enough time to train people properly on any of it. So, when I walk through RSAC, I’m not impressed by buzzwords or jargon. I’m looking for the few who actually get it—those who solve a real, lived-in pain point. If your product helps simplify the chaos, clean up the digital clutter, and remove friction for the people doing the work, you’ve got my attention. But if you’re just adding another shelf to an already messy room, I’m walking right past your booth.”
What are your thoughts regarding all the “hoopla” at booths vs those who are simplified with their exhibits?
Jan: “I understand the temptation to go big with lights, massive screens, and over-the-top setups. It grabs attention, and yes, it can be visually impressive. But I didn’t come to RSAC for a light show. I came to find solutions to real problems, things that are slowing down my team and draining their time and energy.
What I’m drawn to are the booths that make it easy to understand what they do and how they can help. If I must work to figure out your value proposition or dig through buzzwords just to make sense of your product, that’s a red flag. The best vendors respect my time by being direct. They explain how they reduce friction, simplify workflows, and help my team operate more efficiently—without adding more complexity to an already overwhelming tech stack.
Clarity is everything. I don’t need flash. I need function. And the vendors who show up with a sharp message and a real solution are the ones I’ll remember long after I leave the showroom floor.”
What is your goal in attending RSAC2025?
Jan: “My goal is to find technologies and partners who understand that deployment alone is not a win. Too many vendors treat go-live as the finish line, when in reality, that’s just the starting point. Success is measured by adoption—by how well the solution integrates into people’s day-to-day workflows without becoming another burden.
Our team is smart, capable, and mission driven. But even something as seemingly simple as setting up MFA can become a roadblock—not because they don’t understand security, but because the process is unclear, inconsistent, or overly complex. We’re operating in an environment where tech fatigue is real. People are drowning in tools, toggling between platforms, and losing patience with systems that were supposed to help them.
I’m here to cut through the noise and find solutions that put humans at the center. I’m looking for partners who don’t just sell features, but who understand behavior, communication, and ease of use. If your technology can meet people where they are, reduce friction, and make life easier, not just for IT, but for the broader workforce, then you’ve got my attention.”
As an attendee, where is the greatest value for you?
Jan: “The greatest value comes from the real conversations—the ones where vendors move past the shiny features list and talk honestly about implementation in the wild. I’m not interested in a product that just looks good in a demo. I want to know how it performs when it hits the complexity of a live environment, with a busy team, legacy systems, competing priorities, and limited bandwidth.
What matters most to me is hearing how a vendor supports change. How do you onboard people without overwhelming them? How do you train teams who already have a full plate? And how do you ensure your solution flexes to fit the environment, instead of forcing the environment to change around your solution.
The vendors who get my attention are the ones who are thinking beyond the sale. They’re thinking about how their technology lands in the hands of real users, how adoption is sustained over time, and how they’re going to partner with me to drive success, not just push product. That level of honesty and partnership is where the real value lies.”
Do you find the event overwhelming?
Jan: “Absolutely. RSAC can feel like walking into a cluttered room where every shelf is packed, every voice is competing for attention, and there’s no clear map of what matters. The energy is high, the innovation is everywhere, but so is the noise. There’s a flood of tools, platforms, and buzzwords, and sorting through it all to find what truly fits your organization’s needs can feel like a full-time job in itself.
It’s not that the technology isn’t impressive—it’s that too much of it is presented in a way that prioritizes excitement over clarity. What I need isn’t just the next shiny thing. I need to find solutions that solve real, immediate problems for real people in my organization. That means tuning out the flash and focusing on substance.
Overwhelming? Yes. But also, a great opportunity, if you’re disciplined enough to cut through the chaos and seek out the solutions that fit, not just the ones that shout the loudest.”
Is there anything you would want to tell vendors who are exhibiting about their approach to the event?
Jan: “Yes, I’ve got a few things to say. First, please, speak in plain language. This isn’t the time for fancy jargon or the latest buzzwords. As an attendee, I need clear, direct communication about how your product solves a specific problem in a straightforward way. Don’t make me work too hard to understand what you do. Help me quickly assess if your solution fits our needs without drowning me in feature lists that are irrelevant to what we actually face day-to-day.
Also, stop selling “features” and start selling “solutions.” Focus on the problem you solve, not the laundry list of capabilities your product has. Tell me about the real-world impact—how does your product make life easier for the team that has to use it every day? What barriers does it break down? How does it make processes more efficient? If your product requires long, complicated training sessions just to begin using it, you’ve already lost me. Tools should seamlessly integrate into existing workflows, not become another obstacle.
And finally, don’t treat us like we’re just looking for another shiny object. Yes, innovation is great, but we need practical, actionable solutions that won’t add more complexity to our already overloaded systems. Vendors should approach the event with an understanding that the solutions we’re looking for are not just “nice-to-haves, but must-haves” solutions that will genuinely improve productivity, simplify processes, and make a tangible difference for our teams.”
Any significant changes that you would like to see at RSAC?
Jan: “I’d really like to see RSAC take a closer look at the human side of technology—specifically how we drive adoption and manage organizational change. Too often, the event is packed with the latest and greatest tools, but we’re missing the most crucial piece: the people who need to use these tools. While technology can be groundbreaking, it’s the users who ultimately make or break its success. If we don’t focus on helping people adapt to and adopt new tools, we’re just rolling out shiny technology for the sake of it.
What would be incredibly valuable are more sessions that focus on the how of adoption—how do we make sure these tools truly fit within our teams' workflows? Deploying technology is just the beginning. The real challenge lies in helping teams not only learn how to use it, but also feel confident and motivated to integrate it into their daily routines. The conversations need to dive into practical strategies for overcoming resistance to change, creating tailored training programs, and ultimately getting buy-in from users. It’s not enough to show people how to click buttons; we need to show them why these tools will make their work easier, more efficient, and ultimately more impactful. We should focus less on features and more on usability, real-world application, and long-term success.”
