The sun never sets on Caldwell Partners Intl.’s operations, with offices in Canada, the US, and Europe. For decades, they’ve relied on Compunet InfoTech to ensure their international systems are always functional and secure.
Caldwell Partners Intl. is one of Canada’s most storied executive search firms. They help enterprises in various industries to source the best available executive talent, equipping their clients with the experience and leadership they need to continue growing their businesses.
In its 50+ years, Caldwell Partners Intl. grew from a publicly-traded industry leader in Canada to a globally active firm. In the past fifteen years, they have expanded its operations into the US and Europe.
Caldwell Partners Intl.’s growing international team works around the clock as a global firm, which means there are never any off-hours for their IT systems. That’s why they’ve relied on Compunet InfoTech for over two decades.
“Caldwell has worked with Compunet InfoTech since before I was here,” says Mike Falagario, VP Finance, Caldwell Partners Intl. “We’ve grown the relationship over the past five years.”
“They have always played the most crucial role in our organization: they help when we have an emergency,” says Mike. “They’ve always been there when we needed them.”
Over their time in business together, Caldwell Partners Intl. has come to rely on Compunet InfoTech to handle any and all IT emergencies as they occur. Whole Caldwell Partners Intl. does have an internal IT staff. They also use Compunet InfoTech to manage key IT concerns, such as their help desk, long-term strategy, cybersecurity, and more.
Time and time again, Compunet InfoTech has been there to quickly and effectively solve a pressing problem for Caldwell Partners Intl. No matter when they need help, Caldwell Partners Intl. knows they can rely on Compunet InfoTech.
In one instance, Caldwell Partners Intl.’s internal IT staff was in progress swapping out hardware in their network infrastructure. While they had managed to uninstall the old systems properly, they started encountering issues once it came time to install the new system and put everything back together.
“Our IT guys were making a hardware switch out, and they didn’t have a good schema of the cabling,” says Mike. “When they put it back together again, they couldn’t get it up and running.”
Caldwell Partners Intl.’s internal IT team wasn’t sure how to reconfigure the infrastructure. To make matters worse, they were on the clock, having promised that the systems would be back online according to a set schedule.
Unsure of what to do next, they called Compunet InfoTech at 6 AM PST on a Saturday. Whereas another IT company may not be available during off-hours, Compunet InfoTech quickly walked the Caldwell Partners Intl. IT staff through the remainder of the hardware installation. It helped them get their network back online.
“That’s the level of commitment we’ve had from these guys forever,” says Mike.
“We have internal IT resources, but we’ve grown to the point that we can’t support everyone in-house,” says Mike. “It’s way more efficient to have Compunet InfoTech manage our help desk service.”
As Caldwell Partners Intl. has continued to grow over the past few years, it became clear that their internal IT team couldn’t handle every support request being placed by their users. They decided to have Compunet InfoTech take over their help desk.
This is no small undertaking given that Caldwell Partners Intl. operates globally. The Compunet InfoTech support team must be available 24/7, whether a request comes in from the Caldwell Partners Intl. headquarters in Toronto or from a more distant office in Europe.
This is how Compunet InfoTech became Caldwell Partners Intl.’s first line of IT defence. Whereas key IT tasks (such as line of business software management) are handled by the firm’s internal team, every single support request is addressed by Compunet InfoTech.
Cybersecurity insurance is a relatively new type of protection designed to help cover the potentially massive expenses associated with an unavoidable data breach. The somewhat inevitable nature of modern cybercrime has led businesses to consider cybersecurity insurance as a final layer of reassuring protection.
It’s becoming increasingly necessary, as many insurance providers have begun drawing a clear line between normally covered losses and those incurred by cybercrime-related events. That means that if a business’ cybersecurity doesn’t meet the standards of their insurance provider, they may not be as well covered as they think.
Without a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, a business may not qualify for a policy in the first place. Furthermore, in the event of a hack, a business may not qualify for full coverage if its cybersecurity standards have lapsed or if it can be found responsible for the incident (whether due to negligence or otherwise).
The core issue is that as cybercrime becomes more common and damaging, insurers will become more aggressive in finding ways to deny coverage. It’s in the interest of their business to pay out as little and as rarely as possible, which means the policies will tend to rely on a series of complicated clauses and requirements with which covered parties have to comply.
This was the case for Caldwell Partners Intl. When renewing their cybersecurity insurance when their last policy expired, they found out they were missing a component required by their carrier.
“If you want cyber insurance coverage, you need to have these boxes checked,” says Mike. “One thing we didn’t have was cyber training for every staff member, which Compunet InfoTech is helping us roll out right now.”
All of this goes to show why no one should assume they’re covered in a cybercrime attack—after all, for every $1 million paid in premiums, insurance companies only pay out $320,000 in claims.
As discovered by Mactavish, the cybersecurity insurance market is plagued with issues concerning actual coverage for cybercrime events:
The Compunet InfoTech team understands that a single layer of protection won’t cut it—we’ve been in the business long enough to know that a simple cybersecurity defence will soon lead to a data breach.
Our team provides cybersecurity and technology services for Caldwell Partners Intl., ensuring they have a robust cybersecurity defence, minimizing the chance that they’ll ever have to make a claim on their cybersecurity insurance.
Compunet InfoTech isn’t just Caldwell Partners Intl.’s partner for IT support. They also provide expert high-level strategy support and consultation for Caldwell Partners Intl.’s C-Suite and Board of Directors.
Strategy is undeniably important for globally active companies like Caldwell Partners Intl. Consider this recent study by Wakefield Research, which surveyed 250 business “decision-makers” at companies with annual revenue of $5 million – $50 million. The intent was to find out the role that IT plays in their work and how they’re planning the future of their IT:
As a publicly-traded company, everything that Caldwell Partners Intl. does must be approved and overseen by its Board. In their years working together, the Caldwell Partners Intl. Board has come to rely on Compunet InfoTech as their IT experts.
“We’ve always viewed them as our virtual CIOs,” says Mike. “Whenever we’re talking about anything we’re doing technically, the board asks if Compunet InfoTech has signed off on it.”
No matter what IT-based decision the Caldwell Partners Intl. executive staff brings to the Board, they always make sure to consult Compunet InfoTech on it. The Board understands how critical IT strategy is, and is careful to harness the experience and expertise that Compunet InfoTech offers fully.
“The respect Compunet InfoTech has from our board is immense,” says Mike.
As Caldwell Partners Intl. has grown over the course of its many decades in business, so has Compunet InfoTech. Our team ensures Caldwell Partners Intl.’s IT assets are supported, secured, and optimized for their worldwide operations, helping them grow and evolve as a business.
Are you looking for IT expertise that supports your end-users and board of directors? Book a meeting with the Compunet InfoTech team to get started.
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