Firstly, it is quite fitting that I have included acronyms within the title as I found very quickly that individuals within this sector love to shorten everything they can, to the point that it is like learning a whole new language. I now know the difference between my SAs and my GRS, MFA and CA, and VMs and DCs. I still think however that if anyone was to write a comprehensive cheat sheet for industry-related abbreviations, they would be in a position to retire early.
With growing the visibility of the Yobah name falling firmly within my remit, I have spent a lot of afternoons and evenings attending numerous events around the North West. Whilst the cloud sector is fiercely competitive, it quickly became apparent that it is also an extremely welcoming one. Whether it be an event in the Manchester Tech Incubator, with beer and Domino’s, in Digital Gurus office space, with beer and Domino’s (are you starting to see the theme here?) or one of pro-manchester’s incredibly well-put-together celebrations of the best of our industry, they have all been full of smiling faces, and not a shred of derision at my lack of technical knowledge. All of the events I have attended have not only been a good opportunity to network, but they have also all shown the incredible direction we as a country are moving in within the world of technology. The possibilities are truly staggering.
Whilst the (incredibly) technical side of Yobah is not one that I often find myself immersed in, it has of course rubbed off on me to a certain extent. Before I joined, I never understood the complexities and importance of Cybersecurity. I fully admit that I was an end-user that only ever got frustrated with things such as MFA and RBAC and would complain to the IT department about how they put them in place to hinder us. I now understand how crucial these aspects are to securing not only business interests but also individuals, from the constant and relentless attempts to bypass these from external sources.
As our culture continues to adapt, quite rightly, to enable working from anywhere, the weak points within the structure of computing have become infinitely more accessible for those with malicious intent. While the technology is paramount to the safety of data and in general company security, there is a huge onus on the actions of end-users not cutting corners, making sure to think through all cyber-related activities, and, arguably most importantly, working collaboratively with IT departments. I know I am biased when I say this, but the importance of utilizing a CSP with strong cybersecurity credentials is undeniably the greatest thing you can do in this modern work-from-anywhere culture.
Alex Jenner
BDM