Security Operations Centers are stretched thin. Tier 1 analysts are often buried under a flood of alerts, with many of them low-fidelity or repetitive. This culture is leading to burnout, high turnover, and missed threats. It’s time for a smarter approach.

At Security Risk Advisors (SRA), we’re introducing the concept of Tier 0. A new operational layer built into our SCALR XDR platform. Tier 0 is powered by automation, intelligent enrichment, and SCALR AI. It’s not about replacing Tier 1 analysts. It’s about enabling them to focus on what they do best: thinking critically, investigating real threats, and responding effectively.

What is Tier 0?

Tier 0 is the first stop in the SOC. It handles tasks that don’t need a human, enriches alerts with context, and hands off only what’s worth investigating. Some alerts can be resolved automatically. Others are packaged with helpful context and suggested next steps using machine learning and large language models.

Where past automation tools required heavy scripting or rigid playbooks, Tier 0 operates with flexibility and intelligence. It’s not just SOAR with a new name, it’s the foundation of a modern, AI-driven security model.

Helping Analysts Work Smarter

This isn’t about removing people from the loop. It’s about giving them better tools. Tier 0 gives analysts the ability to launch automations, interact with enriched alerts, and even shape what gets automated next.

Here’s how the model evolves: when new threats emerge, Tier 3 handles them. Once they’re better understood, Tier 1 analysts take them on with runbooks. Over time, those processes are automated and pushed into Tier 0. Each layer becomes more efficient, and analysts get to focus on problems that require human intelligence.

This shift leads to higher job satisfaction. Instead of closing out noisy, repetitive alerts, Tier 1 analysts get to work on cases that need their expertise.

SCALR XDR and the Power of SCALR AI

This isn’t just theory. At SRA, we’re building Tier 0 into our SCALR XDR platform with the help of SCALR AI – our AI-driven enrichment engine that sits at the heart of Tier 0. We intend to deploy this technology to all SCALR XDR clients, so that they can begin to benefit from SCALR AI too.

Our clients will soon see these benefits: faster detection and response times, and a major reduction in alert fatigue. SCALR AI enriches alerts automatically, connects to a central security data lake, pulls in external context, and highlights what matters most.

As Tier 1 analysts identify tasks they do frequently, those tasks are pushed down into Tier 0, continually making the system smarter and more effective. As a client of SCALR XDR, you can expect higher quality escalations, with deeper enrichment and more actionable recommendations.

Additionally, SCALR XDR clients will soon be able to use SCALR AI for their own purposes. In our existing deployments, we are seeing clients do interesting things and gaining valuable insights from their own data which they could not previously do. We look forward to working with each client and creating the unique tools they need.

Why It Matters Now

SOC leaders have a choice. Embrace automation and build toward a Tier 0-enabled future, or rely on low-cost offshore teams to sift through low-quality alerts. One of those paths leads to scale and resilience. The other leads to burnout, delay, and increased risk.

By investing in Tier 0, organizations empower skilled people to work on high-fidelity alerts. The result is a faster, smarter, more sustainable SOC.

Don’t wait for AI to replace jobs—use it to elevate them.

Let machines handle the noise, so your analysts can focus on the signal.