Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston) recently interviewed Michael Cudgel . Here’s that interview.
About the interviewee
Michael Cudgel is the Senior Cloud & Infrastructure Manager of North Coast Security Group. Cudgel is a serial entrepreneur with a degree in Technology Management from the University of Findlay. In 2008, he was named Top 30 Under 30 in Diverse Magazine and received the 2011 Micro Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Technology.
Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.).
North Coast Security Group (NCSG) is a network security company that provides security products for small to medium sized businesses. The company is headquartered in Columbus, OH with seven employees and contractors.
The NCSG Viper series Unified Threat Management (UTM) Security Appliances are designed to keep businesses safe with high performance devices that combine the best in class operating system with trusted Intel processors to deliver an optimized security experience. The web based centralized management console provides an easy to use interface that is powerful enough for security experts, and simple enough for those that are not.
NCSG also offers its clients with education and IT consultation to ensure the best security protocols are utilized.
What type and size of companies do you have as clients?
NCSG caters to law firms, insurance companies, educational institutions and healthcare services with up to 550+ employees.
What comes to mind when you see this topic?
The first thing that comes to mind is the lack of consumers who are educated on the topic of network security.
We know that everyone should be operating on a secure network.
Because my industry is in rapid growth in the small-to-medium size business (SMB) sector, this means most clients will be new and lacking basic knowledge on the importance of network security. They don’t know how UTM firms like ours can help them deploy UTM devices or help them protect and monitor their networks.
We don’t have any problems closing deals because after clients meet with us, they understand that they need what we offer. Our biggest challenge is finding clients who know they need a secure network and are looking for security products.
What are the best practices when it comes to this issue?
Network security is important in this ever-evolving industry where the smallest misstep can mean a reputation ruined, multi-millions evaporated due to lost customers, legations and fines.
For this reason, we’ve taken an educational approach to our marketing by bringing awareness to the need for network security and ensuring potential clients fully understand its importance.
We accomplish this through weekly updates via social media, emails and blogs that educate on the end user of terms and standards. We are currently in the process of developing a web series covering the do’s and dont’s of network security, trending security news and breaking information down with detailed graphic.
Contact information:
www.nc.sg
