Cyber Risk Symposium Launching in May 2021

It’s an exciting time in the channel at the moment; we are meeting F2F, visiting clients and events such as this one, are starting to be scheduled. Why did we decide to kick off with Cyber Risk?

If 2020 taught us anything in the technology game is if you are not informed, then you are behind. Cyber security is not something that was borne out of the COVID era specifically, Australian SMBs were already tracking towards a remote work trend however the pandemic absolutely brought it to the forefront and has made it an imperative. Partners with SMB clients should be working with them to understand their three R’s, Risks, Rights and Responsibilities.

In 2020 the ACSC responded to 2,266 cybersecurity incidents and received 59,806 cybercrime reports at an average of 164 cybercrime reports per day, or one report every 10 minutes.

Mark Iles, Industry Analyst will be delivering the keynote at the events, what do you think partners will get out of his session?

Mark was a great get, he lives and breathes the Australian channel and has some really pointed stats about the market opportunity with Cyber Risk and security for our partners. We are at the tip of the iceberg and I think partners are going to be surprised by the trends and research he has to show.

We’ve brought together 5 vendors for this event; however, Dicker Data represents more than those in the security space.

Yes, absolutely and we launched a security focused resource hub last year highlighting our centre of excellence in this space. Microsoft, Citrix, Commvault, Trend Micro and VMware are pilot vendors for this Symposium format. They’ve each got exciting things happening both in their tech but also in the work they are doing in the channel.

Can you give us some insights into what each vendor will be covering?

If you follow me on LinkedIn you’ll see a series of short interviews with each of the panellists. That being said some of the topic areas they’ll be discussing include zero trust, SASE (secure, access, service, edge) the future of cloud security, risk mitigation and backup, the cyber security skills shortage and more.

Each vendor will have some time to present to the audience, but then, what I am most excited about, they’ll have the opportunity to join our Cyber Risk panel where we get into the weeds on how partners can be addressing the industry needs for SMBs.

Other than the time was right, why did we decide to launch this Symposium series F2F vs. virtually?

There were lots of pieces to that puzzle but for me, I miss the connection! You know me, I am event’s guy - I thrive off engaging with people learning from them, understanding their issues, and working together to find solutions. And I think there is something to that on a broader level, that you don’t necessarily get in a virtual setting.