EnCase passport

My experience with the EnCase passport…..

Have you purchased the passport or is this from others that have?

I am placing this into the public domain to allow those who are considering making such an investment to think beyond the upfront sales promise.

I haven't gone through all the dates of the courses yet but its something I think I might do to get a realistic idea of what courses I could get done within the 12 months.

I haven't spoken to anyone from sales as I contacted them by registering for a course.

Have you purchased the passport or is this from others that have?

My own passport.

but sometimes the mask slips

😯

Not so much slipped, but thrown to the ground and reversed over in his company Merc…..

It's fuelled more by their complete indifference to suggestions made/concerns raised by their paying customers.

I largely agree with Fab4. Although I'd say the training I've been on with Guidance has been excellent, and my support enqurires have been met very well, but sometimes the mask slips and you see what large companies are really about. Here's a snippet of an email exchange I had with Guidance a few years back regarding my request to transfer an EnCase license

Original Message—–
From Buckland, James
Sent Monday, July 23, 2007 651 AM
To Customer Service
Subject FW EnCase query - advise needed-DC

Hi folks,

Please could you take a look at the email scenario below and advise on our position in this circumstance and let the customer know.

(Bare in mind I really don’t want to spend time on this from a sales point of view as there is little or no sales involvement!)

Many thanks

James

James Buckland

EMEA INSIDE SALES SUPERVISOR

Office 0044 1753 552 252 x9001
Fax 0044 1753 552 232
Mobile 0044 7887 761312

The World Leader in Digital Investigations™

www.guidancesoftware.com

From Edge, Julie
Sent 19 July 2007 1052
To Buckland, James
Subject FW EnCase query

James,

Can you help Jonathan with this?

Thank you

Kind Regards,
Julie
Julie Edge
Training Coordinator

Guidance Software
Thames Central, 5th Floor, Hatfield Road, Slough, Berkshire SL1 1QE
P (+44) 01753 552 252 ext 9024 ÷ F (+44) 01753 526 736
julie.edge@guidancesoftware.com÷ www.guidancesoftware.com

The World Leader in Digital Investigations™

First it's not nice to publish an email on a public forum
Second why should a "EMEA INSIDE SALES SUPERVISOR" take care about a $50 dongle transfer?

Second why should a "EMEA INSIDE SALES SUPERVISOR" take care about a $50 dongle transfer?

Seriously….? 😯

Taking personal responsibility
Customer service
Relationship management
Customer paid for support
Public face of his company
Repeat business
and on
and on

Today's dongle transfer is tomorrow's annual maintenance cheque.

Greetings,

Just out of curiosity, what would you like to see Guidance do to solve your problem?

If there isn't enough demand to run the courses more often, should they run the course at a loss?

Should they run the courses nights and weekends, even though there'd only be a few people in the class?

Should Guidance look at all of the student's schedule and try to find something that will work for everyone, and reschedule the course when your case is delayed?

Unless I am missing something, your situation isn't unique to the UK and is something that many of us deal with, from all of the vendors. For example, have you seen the X-Ways training schedule? Take a look at it, then complain.

-David

When they hold it in Chicago (X Ways) you get killed on the parking and hotel fees. A normal 2500 class turns into a 5000 class. And the traffic to and from class, forget about it. There was a suggestion to use the rail system, but even then it's not like it's something really easy to do if you aren't familiar.

Second why should a "EMEA INSIDE SALES SUPERVISOR" take care about a $50 dongle transfer?

Seriously….? 😯

I ask "seriously..?" to you! Do you think a sales supervisor from a stock exchange company with 500 employee should take care about $50 issue? Come on…He will pass this to the latest employer! I am not saying guidance should ignore you but it's CLEAR that a sales supervisor will not even touch this..

Certified computer examiner sounds better in court and will cost you £200. Police and experts seem to like flaunting the encase certification though. Encase has some clever marketing to stitch up the world of DF. Its not an independently ran organisation like ISFCE but a money making machine. Saying that the actual software is very good.

My experience with the EnCase passport is that it is useful for the entry-level courses but, in the UK, they run the expert courses so infrequently that, when you factor in that we have commitments in our day jobs, the curriculum is a severely limiting factor. Remember that there are pre-requisites for their expert courses which inevitably means that the windows of opportunity will be squeezed further. They will not offer expert courses via OnDemand nor will they provide the manuals for self-study.

Guidance also react with total indifference to this valid concern.

The training and material is of reasonable quality.

I would recommend more vendor-independent training in any event, e.g. SANS, CCE, etc. This has been covered in many discussion threads previously.