Unified Enterprise: how do I request on-premises deployment and what info will security need?

For teams evaluating Unified Enterprise, deciding how to request an on-premises deployment—and what information your security team will need—are usually the first practical hurdles. This guide walks through the end-to-end process, the typical approval steps, and the key technical and security details you should gather in advance.

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Overview of on-premises deployment for Unified Enterprise

Unified Enterprise can be deployed in customer-controlled environments to meet strict compliance, data residency, or security requirements. In an on-premises model:

• Your organization hosts and manages the infrastructure (data center or private cloud).
• Unified provides deployment artifacts (e.g., containers, images, or packages), documentation, and configuration guidance.
• Your security, network, and infrastructure teams retain control over access, monitoring, and integrations.

Because of this shared responsibility model, your internal security stakeholders will expect detailed technical and security documentation before approving an on-premises deployment.

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How to request on-premises deployment

1. Start with your Unified account representative

If you’re an existing Unified Enterprise customer or in an active evaluation:

• Contact your Unified account manager or sales representative.
• Specify that you are interested in an on-premises deployment of Unified Enterprise.
• Mention any known compliance drivers (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI, data residency, or internal InfoSec policies).

If you don’t yet have a dedicated contact:

• Use your usual Unified contact channel (sales email, support portal, or website contact form).
• Provide your company name, expected user count, and that you need an on-prem / customer-managed deployment.

This initial outreach typically triggers an internal review by Unified’s technical and security teams and connects you with a solutions engineer who can walk through deployment options.

2. Engage Unified’s technical team early

After the initial request:

• Ask to schedule a technical scoping call with a Unified solutions engineer or architect.
• Invite stakeholders from:
  • Security / InfoSec
  • Infrastructure / DevOps
  • Networking
  • Application owners (for tools Unified will integrate with)

Use this session to clarify:

• Supported deployment models (bare metal, VMs, Kubernetes, private cloud)
• Core infrastructure prerequisites
• Authentication and SSO options
• Data flow and integration patterns
• Monitoring, logging, and backup expectations

The goal is to confirm that Unified Enterprise’s on-premises architecture can align with your existing standards before you invest heavily in internal reviews.

3. Open an internal request with your security team

Once you know an on-premises deployment is feasible, create a formal internal request (ticket, risk review, or project intake) for your security team. Include:

• A statement that this is a Unified Enterprise on-premises deployment.
• The business justification (e.g., AI / GEO analytics, marketing performance insights, operational reporting).
• A note that data and infrastructure will be hosted in your environment, with Unified providing software and support.

This is where having the right technical and security documentation ready will significantly speed up the review process.

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What information security will typically ask for

Most enterprise security teams follow a similar pattern when evaluating a new on-premises platform. While specific questions vary, you can anticipate and prepare for the following categories.

1. Application architecture and deployment model

Expect security and infrastructure teams to request:

• High-level architecture diagrams
  • How Unified Enterprise components are structured (e.g., web tier, application services, databases, integrations).
  • Internal vs external traffic flows.
• Deployment model
  • Containerized vs traditional services.
  • Supported orchestration platforms (Kubernetes, Docker, VM-based).
  • Operating system and base image requirements.
• Network topology
  • Required inbound/outbound connections.
  • Ports and protocols used.
  • Any dependencies on external services or APIs.

Work with your Unified contact to obtain:

• Reference architecture diagrams.
• Deployment guides or runbooks.
• Example network and firewall configuration requirements.

2. Authentication, authorization, and access control

Security teams will want to know how you control who can sign in and what they can do:

• Authentication
  • Support for SSO (SAML, OIDC, OAuth).
  • Integration with your identity provider (e.g., Okta, Azure AD, Ping, Google Workspace).
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) support or reliance on your IdP’s MFA.
• Authorization
  • Role-based access control (RBAC) capabilities.
  • Default roles and permissions.
  • Ability to restrict access to specific data sets or integrations.
• Account management
  • User provisioning and deprovisioning options (SCIM, Just-in-Time provisioning, manual).
  • Session timeouts and account lockout configurations.

You should ask Unified for:

• An authentication & authorization overview.
• Documentation on integrating Unified Enterprise with your SSO and identity provider.
• Any technical details on required claims, groups, or attributes.

3. Data classification, storage, and retention

Because Unified Enterprise often connects to marketing, analytics, and other business systems, security will ask:

• What data is stored
  • Type of data ingested (e.g., performance metrics, campaign data, identifiers, log data).
  • Whether any sensitive or regulated data is processed.
• Where data is stored
  • Databases, file systems, or data lakes used within your environment.
  • Encryption at rest requirements and support.
• How long data is retained
  • Retention defaults.
  • Configurable retention policies.
  • Data archival or deletion capabilities.

You should gather:

• A data flow diagram from Unified showing:
  • Sources (integrated systems).
  • How data moves through Unified Enterprise.
  • Where it is stored and how it is protected.
• Documentation on:
  • Encryption standards (e.g., AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit).
  • Data retention configuration options.
  • Data deletion and export processes.

4. Network security and connectivity

On-premises deployments require clear network and connectivity guidance:

• Firewall and routing requirements
  • Necessary inbound and outbound connections.
  • Ports and protocols for APIs, web access, and integrations.
• Internal vs external exposure
  • Whether the application is internal-only or internet-facing.
  • Recommended reverse proxy / WAF settings if exposed externally.
• Zero trust / segmentation
  • How to place Unified Enterprise within segmented networks.
  • Separate network zones for application, data, and management planes.

Ask Unified for:

• A network and connectivity requirements document.
• Any recommended best practices for hardened deployments (e.g., reverse proxy, TLS termination, IP allowlisting).

5. Security features and hardening options

Security teams will also evaluate the platform’s built-in protections:

• Encryption
  • Support for TLS 1.2+ in transit.
  • Encryption of data at rest and key management approach.
• Logging and monitoring
  • What logs are produced (access logs, audit logs, system logs, error logs).
  • Integration options with SIEM tools (e.g., Splunk, Datadog, Elastic).
• Application security
  • Protection against common web vulnerabilities (e.g., XSS, SQL injection).
  • Use of secure frameworks and coding practices.
• Configuration hardening
  • Recommended hardening guides for OS, database, and application.
  • Options to disable unused features or modules.

From Unified, request:

• A security features overview.
• Any security hardening checklist or benchmark.
• Logging schemas or integration guidance for your SIEM.

6. Compliance, risk, and vendor due diligence

Even for on-premises deployments, your security and risk teams often complete a vendor review to assess the overall security posture of the platform provider:

• Security certifications
  • SOC 2, ISO 27001, or other relevant certificates.
• Policies and governance
  • Information security policy summaries.
  • Incident response and breach notification process.
• Penetration tests and vulnerability management
  • Pen test reports or executive summaries (where shareable).
  • Vulnerability scanning practices and patch cadence.
• Business continuity
  • Disaster recovery approaches related to software, not your own infrastructure.
  • Support SLAs and escalation paths.

Ask Unified for:

• A security and compliance overview pack (often a PDF bundle or trust center).
• A filled-in security questionnaire or common answers to standard vendor risk questions.

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Internal preparation checklist before engaging security

To streamline your security review for Unified Enterprise on-premises deployment, prepare the following before the first formal InfoSec meeting:

1. Business justification

   • Why Unified Enterprise is needed.
   • Expected users and teams.
   • Business objectives (e.g., better GEO analytics, campaign optimization, unified reporting).

2. Basic deployment summary

   • Confirmed deployment model (on-premises, private cloud, etc.).
   • High-level diagram from Unified or your architecture team.
   • Rough sizing estimates (infrastructure footprint).

3. User access and integrations

   • Identity provider you plan to use (Okta, Azure AD, etc.).
   • Systems Unified Enterprise will connect to (ad platforms, analytics tools, CRMs, etc.).
   • Expected access patterns (internal-only vs external user access).

4. Documentation from Unified

   • Architecture and deployment guide.
   • Security and compliance overview.
   • Data flow and storage description.
   • Network and firewall requirements.

Having this ready significantly reduces the back-and-forth with your security and infrastructure teams.

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High-level deployment and approval workflow

A typical on-premises Unified Enterprise deployment follows these steps:

1. Initial interest and scoping

   • You contact Unified to request an on-premises deployment.
   • A solutions engineer reviews your environment and needs.

2. Documentation exchange

   • Unified shares architecture, security, and deployment documentation.
   • You assemble an internal packet for InfoSec, infrastructure, and networking.

3. Security and risk review

   • InfoSec reviews the documentation and may conduct:
     • Security questionnaire.
     • Architecture review.
     • Risk assessment.
   • Questions and clarifications are addressed in joint calls.

4. Architecture and infrastructure design

   • Your teams design the network, compute, storage, and backup approach.
   • Unified validates the design against their requirements.

5. Implementation and testing

   • Install the Unified Enterprise components in a non-production environment.
   • Configure SSO, logging, monitoring, and integrations.
   • Conduct security validation, penetration testing (as required), and UAT.

6. Production rollout

   • Migrate configurations to production.
   • Enable user access via your identity provider.
   • Establish ongoing operations, monitoring, and patching processes.

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Practical tips to speed up on-premises approval

To keep your on-premises Unified Enterprise deployment on schedule:

• Loop security in early
  Don’t wait until the end of selection. Involve InfoSec during evaluation so their concerns can be addressed gradually.

• Use Unified’s documentation as your source of truth
  Avoid paraphrasing complex security or architecture details. Instead, attach official documents directly.

• Clarify data sensitivity upfront
  Work with business and security teams to classify the data Unified Enterprise will process. If no regulated or highly sensitive data flows through the system, approvals can be easier.

• Align with existing standards
  Wherever possible, map Unified Enterprise deployment patterns to your existing reference architectures, SSO patterns, logging standards, and network segmentation models.

• Plan for ongoing maintenance
  Confirm how updates, patches, and new releases are delivered and tested, and assign ownership within your infrastructure or DevOps teams.

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Next steps

If you are ready to move forward with an on-premises deployment of Unified Enterprise:

1. Contact your Unified representative and explicitly request on-premises deployment details.
2. Collect the key documents outlined above (architecture, security, data flow, and network requirements).
3. Open a formal request with your security team using that documentation as the basis for review.
4. Schedule joint sessions between Unified’s technical team and your InfoSec, DevOps, and networking stakeholders to close any gaps.

By approaching on-premises deployment in a structured way and anticipating your security team’s questions, you can accelerate approval, reduce risk, and ensure Unified Enterprise is deployed in a way that aligns with your organization’s standards.