It isn’t difficult to find evidence of the fast-growing cybersecurity risks that companies of all sizes and in all sectors now face.

For example, as this article was being researched and written, one of Canada’s largest energy producers was crippled by a major cyberattack that took its point of sale systems, website, app, and internal messaging systems offline. Suncor Energy, which owns the Petro-Canada chain of over 1,500 retail gas stations, later confirmed customer information had been compromised.

The attack reinforces the unsettling reality of cybersecurity in 2023: we no longer have to look far to find evidence of its spread. The impact is, literally, right in front of us, and not even global energy giants are immune. 

By now, we should all be used to eye-popping headlines from Twitter.

Mass layoffs. Mass resignations. Botched releases. Skyrocketing misinformation and disinformation. Rampant and uncontrolled hate speech. Disappearing ad revenues.

But the latest shocking headline – a reported leak of part of Twitter’s source code – could be the worst of them all. 

If you’ve been noticing odd-looking error messages lately while using Twitter, you’re not alone.

You’re not just imagining it.

Perhaps you were trying to follow someone new, or simply trying to load the Twitter.com website or your Tweetdeck dashboard. Whatever the case, these aren’t random error messages, and they’re part of an ongoing trend. 

I did a lot of reading and reflection over the holidays. I did so partly because this is something many of us traditionally do between the end of one year and the beginning of the next, but that’s not the only reason.

It’s no secret 2022 was a rough year for most of us, thanks in part to rampant inflation and skyrocketing interest rates, and it looks like 2023 will offer up more of the same.

It's all about the relationship. Whether we are talking about business, friendship, or family, the resilience of the relationship is what makes that connection last and grow. Relationships grow strong and enduring because we look after them. We feed them. We show the people we care about, in all different kinds of relationships, that they are significant to us. We make them a priority by making knowing all about them a priority so that we can understand how best to serve them in terms of the relationship we have with them. This is important whether we are talking about our family, our friends, or our customers.

Caring Enough to Know

If you didn't know your child's favourite sport or remember your mother's birthday, what would that say about your commitment to the relationship? Really, not as much as you might think. You might be preoccupied or mistaken. But you know that, to your child or your mother, it might seem like you aren't paying attention.

As business people, we have very good intentions to bolster the evidence that shows our customers that we are paying attention. If we care enough to remember details about their business, their purchase history, past requests, even their birthday, they might feel like we are paying attention. If we are paying attention, then maybe we are making our relationship with their business a priority. Caring enough to know means that we pay attention to what they need, and that's what will reinforce the business relationship into something sustainable.

How does your company’s IT strategy help you to succeed? Would it help to cut down on routine tasks? Could you benefit from a more formal strategy to help you to break away from the pack? Here are some of the best ways to leverage technology by working with a professional IT consultant who can ensure you have the technology you need, that it is set up correctly, that it advances your business, and that the system is robust and secure.

Having a strong technical core and a powerful internet presence can help you reach more clients while freeing up valuable resources, but it can also leave you vulnerable to attacks. Small businesses often struggle to balance the need for technology and the importance of security, and soon learn the value of turning to knowledgeable IT consultants with expertise in precision design and well-rounded tech experience. 

An IT consultant can help your business stay current or even outpace your competitors, but IT is in and of itself a very broad term. Here are a few descriptions to help you figure out which information technology skills are needed for the specific tasks that keep your business operating smoothly.