Onboarding / Cyber Security

No More Business Blind Spots: Key Industries CFO Now Knows Exactly Where They Stand

Surprises in IT are never a good thing. You want your IT to always be working in the background proactively identifying and addressing issues before they become actual problems.

Company spotlight

Key Industries is a 100% New Zealand owned business with roots dating back to 1987. They are an agrichemical and pest control company whose products are used extensively by conservation groups, wildlife sanctuaries, and the NZ Department of Conservation and Regional Council Biosecurity teams.

Thirty years in business may look good on paper, but when you peek under the hood, you’d find that they share the same problems most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in New Zealand have—legacy systems, outdated hardware and software, and untrained staff in terms of cyber security.

Gordon Grant, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Key Industries, shares their experience of transitioning from their previous service provider to iT360.

Key Industries
industry
Agriculture
Year founded
1987
Services provided
Pest Control

The Problem

When Gordon entered Key Industries, he immediately saw the high-risk environment the company was operating in. After conducting a risk assessment on the company, he found out there were significant holes that needed to be plugged.

One discovery Gordon shared was the lack of a disaster recovery plan.

“We had one break-in where someone broke into the building and put a hammer through our large television screen. What they didn’t do is go into the computer room, thank goodness, and wreak havoc to the business in there.”

Imagine if that happened to your business. Someone broke in and destroyed or stole your computers.

Will you be able to operate the next day? Or would it take you weeks before you can get up and running again?

The Solution

All this time, Key Industries had an existing IT provider managing their IT systems. Unfortunately, they were reactive. Everything was still driven by the team at Key Industries.

“The IT people were basically floundering. They really did not see the big picture…they only came when we rang them, well that wasn’t enough either,” said Gordon.

He then goes on to add that they’re “basically a one-man-band. They have general knowledge. They didn’t really have in-depth knowledge of anything. You need people who have good knowledge in separate aspects of IT.”

This puts Key Industries at a disadvantage. Gordon knows this so they initiated a search for a new service provider, asked around, and found iT360.

Key Industries Today

The relationship with Key Industries is still new, but we have helped them plug some major security risks in their business.

When asked about the transition and onboarding process, Gordon recounts “Hayden [iT360 Account Manager] and Chris [iT360 Customer Service Manager] have led the charge on that. We had a plan on what we needed to replace and what we needed to do… Our goal is to reduce or mitigate our risks and make certain we’re aware of all our problems and we got it covered.”

We had a plan on what we needed to replace and what we needed to do…Our goal is to reduce or mitigate our risks and make certain we’re aware of all our problems and we got it covered.

Gordon Grant, Chief Financial Officer, Key Industries

IT today is no longer a cost centre. Rather, it’s a business enabler that helps your business grow whether this is through automation, integration with new and cloud-based systems, or simply making sure that everything is running smoothly.

This is now the focus on Key Industries. They wanted to “reduce or mitigate our risks and make certain we’re aware of all our problems and ensure they are managed.”

With their previous provider, they didn’t have visibility on issues until it became an actual problem for the business. But now that Key Industries have partnered with iT360, they now have a clear understanding of where they stand. They know exactly what the risks are and how to solve them. It’s just a matter of working through this plan one-by-one.

Do you know where your IT blind spots are?

Surprises in IT are never a good thing. With the rise of cyber security attacks, your IT provider should never be complacent. If you don’t have a plan or don’t know what state your IT is in right now, you are at high risk. Schedule a call with our team of experts to shed light on your business blind spots.

Hear From Our Clients

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[The cyber security audit] puts its contents in a controllable context for me…having a review time, identifying the 6-7 different domains to look at, seeing where you are, then clearly knowing what kind of things we can work on to bring us up to an acceptable level. I found it extremely helpful.

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I have had 12 years of experience working with iT360 as my client. They are always easy to deal with, friendly, professional, encouraging and of course importantly, good payers! I realize this review page is probably for their clients to review, but I believe the true test of a company is not what is seen, but the workings of the company/people behind the scenes. I highly recommend anyone to deal with them.

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