‘Stop feeling scared’
Sydney IT company looking to solve data breaches.
A Sydney-based information technology company that relaunched this spring is looking to solve the data and security breaches some smalland medium-sized companies face as business grows.
Devantec IT surfaced again in April after about a threeyear hiatus due to president and CEO James Mackinnon’s work on other projects.
Mackinnon has worked in IT security governance with large publicly traded companies with “highly disciplined” business practices.
“I want to take that experience and bring that to smaller-based businesses (where) I have access to individuals they wouldn’t normally have access to,” he said in an interview Thursday.
Mackinnon said smaller companies often believe their data is protected through Internet-based security programs that detect malware, which includes computer viruses, worms, and spyware.
Ensuring data is properly validated and is saved to backup servers is another issue some small companies overlook, he said.
“The biggest challenge for a small business is technology really isn’t their business. They don’t understand that. That’s where we come in.”
Local businesses should consider their IT strategy from the outset and how it can work as efficiently as possible to ensure growth over the long-term, he said.
It could be as straight forward as a company setting a goal to grow to 50 employees and expanding to a second location, said Danielle Patterson, Devantec’s chief marketing officer.
“What sort of technologies can we set up today that will help you that’s not going to cost you more down the line,” she said.
“And that’s where we see the gap here in Cape Breton. That’s where we see the missing piece of technology companies not being fully integrated with businesses in Cape Breton to help them and work with them as a team.”
Devantec recently announced it is offering free network assessments to companies this summer. The company is looking to educate local businesses in the dos and don’ts of IT best practices.
Depending on a company’s reliance on its servers and other storage systems, data loss can “devastate” a business, Mackinnon said.
“It depends on the type of company. It depends on the type of data. Some companies could be absolutely devastated to the point of no return.
“Especially looking at malware, it has absolutely devastated local (business) communities as well as international. If you don’t have proper backups, it doesn’t matter how many security pieces you have in place or how much other knowledge you have … if you don’t have an understanding of the governance of your business, you have a huge risk of loss.”
Mackinnon said business owners who have a broader knowledge base of how their network systems work will be able to spot tech problems early on and contact their IT support team.
“We want people to stop feeling scared of technology.”