Cyber-defense strategy isn’t much different from coaching sports: Neutralize the opponent’s primary offensive threat and make them try to defeat your team another way. In other words, take away their best, most talented athlete, and move the rest of the players out of their comfort zones.
If they have a highly accurate shooter, for example, relentless pressure and double-teams will make it difficult to play their game on the basketball court. On the football field, stopping a powerful rushing attack on the ground forces the opposition to go to the air and throw. Whichever the case, the defense’s goal is to make the game uncomfortable. If the other team lacks multiple weapons, your team gains a competitive advantage.
Except that the business world isn’t a game, and many office technology dealers still don’t feel comfortable about the opportunities that such non-hardware offerings present. As print-centric dealers shift to lead more with digital solutions, cybersecurity and managed IT services should be top of mind, according to new contributor Ed Finkel. How can dealerships profit from managed infotech services and make IT work for them? Noel Ward attempts to answer that question.
A new-age workplace technology model
In the Pacific Northwest, Woodburn Co. is a digital-first case study. Ben Johnson, who is 40, has been presiding over the enterprise MPS-focused dealership for the past 10 years. How do they do it? “We become the print team . . . within their overall IT structure,” he told our Filomena Tamburri. “And we embed our people and their processes, their procedures. Very, very little of our focus is just on selling devices,” Johnson explained.
In addition, columnists Petra Diener and Greg Walters add their AI perspectives for the dealer channel. While high-tech related content is a must when it comes to The Cannata Report’s industry coverage, we cannot neglect the “high touch” side of business. Frank Cannata talked with tech support expert Dave Ramirez about his transition from U.S. Army military service in Europe to working for Toshiba America Business Solutions on the West Coast. Meanwhile, I interviewed Milner’s leader Tom McMahon, based in southern Florida, about the role models and influencers in his life and career.
Let the cyber coaching commence!
