Executive Insights | The C3 Suite: Marc Pantoni

Watch the full interview with C3's CEO, Marc Pantoni, as he shares how C3’s prescriptive approach—combining managed services, cybersecurity, and compliance—helps defense contractors meet CMMC requirements efficiently. He highlights The C3 Suite (C3 Command, C3 Catalyst, C3 Core) and standardized processes that speed up compliance, while stressing the need for readiness to ensure successful assessments.

 

 

Q&A with Marc Pantoni

What’s new with C3?

Over the past few years, we have made several significant investments to expand our capabilities, and it wasn’t just focused on growth. We knew that it was critical for us to have dedicated and experienced staff across all three core components of CMMC ( Managed Services, Cybersecurity & Compliance) in order to build the most complete and effective solution for defense contractors.

Compliance isn’t just an IT challenge or a cybersecurity challenge—it requires a complex mix of security, infrastructure, and compliance expertise. Most companies only specialize in one of those areas, leaving gaps that contractors have to figure out on their own. Our vision was to bring all of those capabilities together under one roof, so clients don’t have to piece together multiple vendors to get compliant and stay secure.

 

What sets C3 apart from other providers?

I believe that what sets us apart is our commitment to operational maturity—we’ve standardized and automated many parts of our infrastructure management and service delivery and compliance processes, which means that we can get clients compliant faster and with less risk. Many providers in this space are still using a highly customized, manual approach, which slows things down and increases costs. At C3, in many environments, we’ve been able to cut compliance timelines nearly in half, which is a game-changer for contractors trying to meet CMMC requirements without putting their business on hold.

At the same time, we know that we need to be flexible enough to scale, with an approach that is tailored both to the small business trying to get started as well as to large contractors managing multiple subcontractors.

That’s what makes C3 the most agile and scalable partner for the DIB today —we combine the breadth of expertise that contractors need with the efficiency and speed that they want, all in a way that grows with their business.

 

How does the C3 Suite help client meet CMMC requirements?

One of the biggest challenges for defense contractors is figuring out how to structure their IT and security environments for compliance without overcomplicating things. That’s why we built C3 Command, C3 Catalyst, and C3 Core—so clients can choose the right approach while keeping everything under one trusted provider.

C3 Command and C3 Catalyst are our two options for compliant environments. Command is a fully managed, turnkey solution—perfect for companies that want a secure, compliant environment without having to build and manage it themselves. Catalyst is for clients who need more flexibility—maybe they have internal IT resources or specific needs around managing portions of their environment, but still want a structured path to compliance.

Then there’s C3 Core, which is an area that is easy to overlook but can be just as important because it covers the commercial side of our clients’ environments. A lot of defense contractors struggle with managing both their compliant and commercial environments, and most vendors only focus on one or the other. By offering C3 Core, we ensure that clients don’t have to bring in a separate provider to manage their commercial IT needs—it’s all streamlined under one partner.

So whether a contractor needs a fully managed solution, a co-managed approach, or help managing their commercial needs alongside their compliant environments, we make sure they have a solution that fits—and they don’t have to juggle multiple vendors to get there.

 

What are the biggest challenges in meeting CMMC?

Right now, a lot of defense contractors are feeling the pressure to sit for assessment—primes are making it clear that compliance is going to be a requirement, not an option, and competitors are moving fast to position themselves for future contracts. That urgency is real, but the challenge is knowing when you’re truly ready to sit for an assessment— Because if you sit for an assessment before you’re ready, you risk falling short and facing delays that could slow down your business.

One of the biggest mistakes we see is defense contractors rushing to sit for an assessment before their environment is fully documented and operationally ready. CMMC isn’t just about checking the right boxes—it’s about proving you have repeatable processes, well-documented security practices, and operational discipline.

At C3, our strategy is to simplify this problem, and we have built our services to help our clients meet this challenge. We’ve done that in a few ways— by having a prescriptive technical design, (an architecture that always has the assessment in mind), by focusing on standardized and repeatable MSP & MSSP services and through the depth and breadth of our compliance expertise.

We want to ensure that when our clients sit for their assessment, they don’t just pass, but do so with confidence and without surprises.

Ultimately, the goal is not just about speed to assessment—it’s about having a solid, repeatable compliance foundation. At C3, our focus is to help defense contractors move forward with not just urgency, but also with certainty.