Along with technology, of course, comes risk and vulnerabilities. And this is the next question is is now that, is the conversation of cybersecurity coming up when they talk... You talk to them about business resilience or customer confidence or or long term growth or actually operational viability. And all those elements now are such more, are are way more important than they had been in the past because of the AI ability to to penetrate, perimeters and and and be be able to to fish and deepfakes, all the things you mentioned earlier. You know, they have to have a fortress. Right? So, what do you what do you tell them at this point in time, and and how do you guide them? Yeah. So so the the the guidance is pretty pretty simple and straightforward, which is you you need... You you know, you said a fortress. We might say an army. You you need some muscle behind what you're doing in cyber. You know, I I joke with with people. I can't think of any cyber attacks that I've seen in recent history that didn't happen on a holiday, a night, or a weekend. Right? So those are the times when IT teams are are, by design, less engaged, at a business. And so having an always on fully committed, partner who's going to put their name right alongside yours in those types of activities is is really a key part of that. So invest in the the right partnerships. That can bring the tools, can bring the people, the process, and the technology, and then also has the volume and the size to be invested in staying ahead of those emerging threats. You you know, we both know there's no, you know, no silver bullet in cybersecurity. This is, you know, this is hand to hand combat, and there's lots of great tools that we can leverage in that process. But but we have to have all of the elements, not just pick and choose some parts of them. Yeah. I like what you said because, you know, people are... Think that they're obscure. They're not gonna be the target of a cyber attack. But nowadays, with the sophistication out there and the capability of almost anyone to go to the dark web, get a tool, use a efficient attack with AI makes everyone vulnerable. Right? So, I think, really, the conversation now is it being more towards when you when you did discuss the business, it's not just the fact that you have to guard against cyber. You have to actually prepare to be resilient if you do get attacked, right, and discuss how you can remediate the... Those those effects of it. And it it goes beyond just the the technology. Right? It goes on the the practice and and and and, basically, incident response and copying your reputation, all those elements come into it. Yeah. And I I think that's such a such a good point. You know, we live in a world that it... You know, it... It's not necessarily, if it's when. And that when may be major, may be minor, But one of the key elements of that is what does that response plan look like? How do we recover? How do we contain? And those are areas where you want an expert in your corner. You want someone, in in a team that really really knows what they're doing, knows how to respond to these things, and knows how to deploy the right tools at the right time. Yeah. No. I think I think that's a really good point. And and a lot of that... The challenge, I think, is complexity right now because there's so many tools and technologies out there. And and how do you advise a company, particularly a small medium business, you know, relating to their budgets and their capabilities, you know, what what to pursue, what not to pursue? Yeah. Yeah. But it... This is one of my my favorite topics, Chuck, because, you know, I I fully believe that that, you know, we we see and we run into a lot of businesses that have tried to to do their own best of breed deployment of, you know, a a cybersecurity environment. And so often that turns into, undocumented, fragmented, and disconnected tools. And so, you know, we we advise them in in today's world, you you you gotta pick you gotta pick a path, be deeply committed to it, and and really be invested in in that. And and that's where, again, partners can can bring such a huge value. A managed service provider can bring that depth in those tools. Use them day in and day out across hundreds and hundreds of, events that that occur throughout the day. So bring the depth along with the tools. Don't get tempted by, you know, the the clever advertising for these kinda point different solutions within a business. Most of of us in in the the small to midsize business world, we just don't have the the capabilities to, you know, truly go out and assemble, you know, kind of this bespoke set of tools into something that really functions. And so, we as a provider can can give that. We can give that cohesive suite of tools and team. So you're basically showing how technology could really simplify the process. Yeah. Much more convoluted. Yeah. That's that's exactly right. And and what we see is we see businesses that have been down that complicated path that are saying, okay. We have so many other things going on. How do I simplify the structure I have? How do I consolidate the spend that I have? And then how do I put myself on a path so I'm not spending time trying to untangle what we've done in the past and can talk about the future pieces that we were speaking of earlier? Now how do you do this? I mean, companies now always wanna stress that they're innovative, that their innovation pursuit is really unique, or they're they're they're going beyond what what their competitors are doing. How do you do that? How do you simplify things without really slowing their innovation messaging? Yeah. I I I believe that that a business can adapt quickly to change without, you know, and and keep keep the things that that make them special and unique. And so we see an opportunity for businesses that that we work with to to start to change the way they viewed IT, which is often... You know, I... People joke about the CF no. Really, it's the IT teams who say no to the most things. Well, a lot of times, those IT teams say no to things or the technology teams do because the... It... It's out of fear. It's out of the inability to see how we can adapt the tools we have and the things we're doing towards the future state that the business needs to be in. And so starting with the the end in mind, it's so critical here. Where are we going as a business? Now how do we work backwards to the set of tools, protection, and the the right timeline to get us where we wanna go? And so that's where we spend our time is is really consulting and understanding and then putting in place the right controls along with the ability for businesses to make decisions and give some of that technology power back to their team. Through optimizing their business model as well as their processes and their capabilities, when you do that. And their governance. Right? Because governance is Certainly. That's that's important. So, I mean, going back to the the report now, I mean, you... I think you interviewed six hundred six hundred different IT, officers and organizations. That's right. That's a lot of of data. So, what are the lessons from that? Particularly, how... You know, the theme of this, how, technology partners should move forward and what what accountability looks like in a in a modern technology partnership. Yeah. Yeah. So so it it... It's it's so interesting, and and we really enjoy doing these studies because, you know, it gives us some insight into, you know, what what are the things that the businesses value. We we can certainly have our view on that from the the customers that we work with. But understanding that that the industry is becoming more open, more willing to change for what I would call the right reasons, not necessarily because somebody had a bad, you know, experience setting up their printer, but because they see that that they wanna take their business in a direction that their current IT environment just can't support. The other is is understanding that that businesses want predictable cost. They wanna be able to to look at their IT spend and have some confidence around that. And and, you know, providers historically have been really bad about nickel and diming or or maybe kinda changing the the the pricing structure along the way. So so really zeroing in on on that pricing structure. And and then having answers to the questions of what do I do with my data? How do I advance where I wanna go? And having some real world examples of AI in business that they can apply to to their organizations. Yeah. I like that. I mean, what I do with my data. Are there other questions too that that if you were advising a CIO executive team that you shouldn't be asking them, particularly with, the complexity out there and and all the the the the broader business strategy is necessary? Yeah. Yeah. I I mean, what do I do with my data is the first step of, well, where is all of your data and how are you containing it? That's that's the the next big question I... That that we we typically ask through that process. And then any CIO should be asking of his team, which is how are we containing our intellectual property today with all the tools that are available to our team, and and what does governance and and data loss prevention look like in in our business. So it's really a zero trust model. You're you're adapting the... Which has been really relatively new to the scene, just a few years old, but it really necessitates to know where everything is located, who has access, who has privileges, etcetera, what's connected to your networks. So, you know, really, it's almost an inventory before you even start. Right? It it is. And and, you know, how how many businesses out there most don't have a good handle on their permissions within their own set of data today. That's most. Well, then Yes. You know, let's throw an AI tool on top of that, and all of a sudden, you know, Joe over in production accidentally got access to salary information. There are so many cases where not having the right governance and and understanding of of data before rolling out a really powerful tool can can do more harm than good. So taking that a little further, how do you... Would would you advise a CIO to integrate cybersecurity into the the business strategy of the company, which has been a problem because a lot of the CIOs and CSOs haven't had a a voice at the table, and and now people are starting to realize the importance of their voice. But... So, and and, you know, when you're talking to C Suite, you also have to be able to to measure business outcomes. So what should they be doing, that's different in the past now to to make the case? This is what you need to do for cybersecurity and understand that in an AI era, it's a different world. Yeah. So so you you kinda touched on it, and that is, you know, the... This openness that that we see in in our business model is also an openness we see at the executive levels within these businesses. And so CISOs and and CIOs need to to take the AI conversation in in my view and turn that, steer that directly into we have to to have the right cybersecurity posture within our business before we do this. So so it's an opportunity to do the right things in the right order with a a little bit more cultural buy in behind it than than maybe what they've had in the past. Now so what what question do you think, organizations overlook most in this process? It it it... Without question, it's data governance. Where's where's my data going? I I I mean, it's just, this is a... Let's move fast. And and if there's one thing we've learned, you you can take, you know, an AI... Generative AI tool and produce a lot of quality content really quickly. And so, you know, I believe the the temptation is we can take this shiny object and start producing stuff with it really fast before we understand the implications. And and I've seen business leaders who were willing to compromise to get the output, And, you you know, that's where we we believe you you just can't do that. You have to take the time to get the cybersecurity and the governance in place and correct first. Is that what makes strategic partners more important than the service providers? Absolutely. And and a lot of times, we act as that other voice to say, we work with businesses similar to yours. We know the pressure you're under, and we know the steps that we need to take. And we can do those steps in a much more condensed timeline than most internal IT teams can because we do it over and over and over again. So I think the the lesson of of this report is really that, the big takeaway is that not everyone needs change. Right? Some do. Many do. I mean, you said maybe 30 are looking directly at changing. And and the takeaway, I guess, is is is is that the definition of strong technology partnerships is really what's changing, and leaders need to evaluate, whether the partners can support their their visions, their operations, and and prepare them for the AI adoption and cybersecurity resilience, etcetera. So I I wanna ask you, what do you think this is, in terms of the the future of technology partnerships? You know, what is... What... What's gonna happen in the future, and and what is the really critical elements that you see that you'd like to communicate from this report, to... If if there's just several takeaways that you think that are so importantly, to to these, particularly small and medium businesses Yeah. That need to prepare for this new environment. Yeah. My my message really is if if you have a partner today and you're spending time talking to them about SLAs, missed phone calls, slow responses, that that partner isn't just just failing you in in that area. They're... You're you're not getting the strategic value that you need out of a out of a technology relationship. So find find the the partner who will step alongside you and really help chart a a path forward. We're always gonna have IT issues. We're always going to have those, you know, again, that that blocking and tackling within the business. Find the the the partner who will step alongside you and say, we see the vision for where you're going, and we can bring the resources to bear to get you there ahead of your competition. So looking down, five years through the looking glass, what would you define as the strongest technology partnership, based on the findings now and where you think the the the the business world is going? Yeah. I I I see our industry shifting much, much more to to to data, and and we're behind overall as an industry. And and this report shows that many, many of the respondents, the the majority, were interested in in data integration. How do I handle my data? I see partnerships, certainly, that still handles some of the the day to day aspects. Again, I don't think that's gonna go away. But but I see a a much heavier footprint in data integration and, a p... API and AI development within the operations of the business. Now that makes sense. I mean, I think, you know, to summarize thing, I think, what what really grabbed me in the support is that... And I've always been an advocate for this. Can't really function in this this industry anymore without trusted advisers. Right. Everyone is not an expert, and and you can't go to the Internet and become an expert. And and the problem is that the stakes are just way too high if there's a mistake, if there's a breach, if there's something that's libelous to your country... Company. It could cause basically the destruction of your whole reputation. So I think I think in this world, there's there's a lot to consider with with having the the strongest and most important technology part... Partnerships out there and something definitely explore. But I'd like to ask you is is that... What's your one final piece of advice for, executive leaders and also for your final summation of of what this report, really explained to you that that is really most of vital areas that need to be looked at? Yeah. The the the advice is embrace the change that's coming and find someone... Find either the the the team or the partner who embraces that change with you, who's not resistant to where we're going in in technology, and and we'll do that within a repeatable, reliable framework. And, you know, the the the... That... This report really really helps support that, that that's that's what businesses are are looking for. They're looking for someone who says, yes. I see what you wanna accomplish, and I wanna help you get there. Not if they said, woah. Woah. Wait a minute. We we can't do that for whatever reason. They they want the guide and, those that that will take them there enthusiastically. I I love that that phrase embrace the change, and I and I... I'm gonna use that one of my students too because I think a lot of people coming out there right now of, in... Into the the world to work have the same perspective of where, you know, where is technology taking me? What I need to focus on? And and you have to really become educated in these areas. And and same with the business. You can't be in this world and operate with having an extended understanding of where AI is and perhaps soon to be quantum may may factor in in Right. Strategies. So, I'm I'm really happy to have this opportunity to to speak to you about this, and, and I urge everyone to read the report. Is there a place where they can receive the report, to to go to? Yeah. Absolutely. The the report's available on our website, corsicatech.com. I know we'll have some links available as well. And, you know, lot of information in there that that we didn't even cover today. So, you know, definitely worth a read. Thank you, Brian, and, thank you for the informative discussion. Yeah. Great talking to you. Appreciate the time.
