AutoNation

AutoNation is the largest automotive retailer in the United States, operating more than 360 retail outlets across domestic, import, premium luxury and corporate segments, with a highly networked structure that includes multiple acquired companies. That structure meant multiple third-party vendors adding complexity, limited granular visibility into the network architecture, and security monitoring that left real gaps.

The switch to Smarttech247 was driven by dissatisfaction with the previous SOC provider: quarterly business reviews kept surfacing the same issues without resolution, and reported incident volume was suspiciously low for an enterprise of AutoNation's size, a sign of missed activity rather than a genuinely quiet network.

AutoNation chose Smarttech247 specifically for the level of detail and responsiveness the previous vendor hadn't delivered, testing that early with pointed questions before committing. That responsiveness held up: Smarttech247's SOC surfaced roughly 50% more incidents than the previous provider had ever brought to AutoNation's attention, closer to the activity level a business of that scale should actually expect to see, not fewer incidents to manage, but real visibility into activity that had previously gone undetected.

VisionX added the granular detail needed to filter out noise and focus attention on what actually matters, rather than treating every incident as equally worth investigating.

Beyond core SOC coverage, AutoNation has extended the partnership to penetration testing and security assessments of newly acquired companies and third parties being brought into the business, treating security hygiene as part of due diligence rather than an afterthought. AutoNation frames this as the difference between a vendor and a partner: consistent reporting, availability when something goes wrong, and proactive updates even when nothing has been asked for.

"Smarttech247 provides us more than just a security operations centre. We've partnered with them to provide us penetration testing, and we've had them look at our acquisitions and third-party companies for their security hygiene."