Nerds On Tap

Breaking Barriers with Josie Keck: Part 2

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On this special International Women's Day episode, we are honored to have Josie Keck join us from Open Text. Josie doesn't just bring her expertise in tech; she brings stories that resonate with the heart of every listener. Our conversation today weaves through the vibrant threads of diversity and inclusion in the tech world, stories of passion-fueled advancement, and the absolute necessity for empathetic leadership. It's a chat that transcends the binary codes and pixels, making space for the human connection that's essential in our digital communication era. Josie's relationship with her boss Jen Dario exemplifies the profound impact of emotional intelligence in driving tech teams forward.

Today, we also celebrate the Lean In movement's influence on women's empowerment in tech, reveling in the unique strengths that come from partnership dynamics, particularly those of husband and wife teams. Join us for a discourse on the nurturing roles women have honed within the industry, such as Kathleen's in Digital Boardwalk, and how these roles integrate seamlessly with family life and community support networks—think Marie Weeds and her "Women in Technology" podcast. It's a refreshing take on the symbiosis of personal growth and professional success, especially poignant on this International Women's Day.

We also take a moment to challenge the status quo of cybersecurity and technology sales, shining a light on the empowering journeys of women breaking into these traditionally male-dominated fields. We don't just talk shop about email encryption, cloud backup, and the evolving landscape of cybersecurity training; we celebrate the stories of tenacity and curiosity that enable success in this high-stakes arena. The episode culminates with a look at AI's role in the future of tech, the unwavering need for multifactor authentication, and the universal vulnerability to cyber threats. Through Josie's lens, technology isn't just a tool—it's a frontier for change, innovation, and inclusion, especially as we reflect on the contributions of women in the industry on this International Women's Day.


This Episodes Beers: 
Space Dust, IPA  

Elysian Brewing Company

https://www.elysianbrewing.com/beer/space-dust-ipa


Blueprint IPA

Birds Fly South Ale Project

https://untappd.com/b/birds-fly-south-ale-project-the-bluprint-ipa/1857263


Relax Hazy IPA

Offshoot Beer Company

https://www.thebruery.com/products/relax


Dank Side of the Moon New England Style IPA

3rd Planet Brewing Company

https://www.3rdplanetbrewing.com/our-beers/

Sponsor of this episode:  Digital Boardwalk
Digital Boardwalk is one of the top 10 Managed IT Service Providers in the United States.  If you are seeking to outsource your IT Management, or if your IT Team could use some help with projects or asset management, give Digital Boardwalk a call today!  They offer a FREE IT Maturity Assessment on their website.  If you want to see how your business's IT scores against industry standards, go to GoModernOffice.com now.

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Tim Shoop:

This is part two of our two part series with Josie. If you didn't catch our last episode, part one, I encourage you to go back and listen to that one first, as Josie shared her journey from Brazil to arriving in America with a thousand dollars in a suitcase and a dream of American success. She discussed her journey and the emotional impact of the day she became an American citizen. In today's episode, we'll discuss women in tech and the importance of diversity and inclusion, and how we can inspire more women to get involved in this industry. We'll also talk about Josie's role at Open Text and App River and the world of cybersecurity, and why you, as an entrepreneur or business leader, should really pay attention. So strap on your boots, ladies and gentlemen, and get ready for another great ride of Nerds on Tap.

Tim Shoop:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nerds on Tap. I'm your host Tim Shoop, , and I couldn't be more excited to embark on this nerdy adventure with all of you. So grab your favorite room, because things are about to get exciting. Hey, everyone, welcome to lucky episode number 13 of Nerds on Tap. Today's show is called Breaking Barriers Women in tech, with special guest Josie Keck of Open Text, one of the largest providers of cybersecurity solutions, among many other things, and one of digital boardwalks favorite partners, so I think I'm going to really enjoy this next segment. We're going to talk about inspiring women in technology, and you know I want to get into the importance of diversity and inclusion in the tech world. How do you believe diversity and inclusion contribute to the field?

Josie Keck:

Oh man, oh, I know it's a good one to start it off with, I think that we talked about before, how you need to have like input of women of different ages and people from different walks of life to build this technology. That includes everybody. That includes everybody. We all need to be in this together. I have had some women. I have, you know it's funny to say sometimes like I have men who have mentored me. Okay as a woman who have embraced me.

Josie Keck:

You're a woman in this industry. You know. Going to conferences is always interesting. There's like, you know, I don't know. It's funny because, you know, every time I have a partner dinner and I take you all to dinner, there's usually 12 of you guys and me. You know, and we take a picture and I always share with my husband. I'm like he goes there, you go 12 to one ratio. You know there's always the ratio we're trying to get more.

Tim Shoop:

There need to be more.

Josie Keck:

There need to be more women. But you know, I have had men who have mentored me to this day, have men who mentor me, but I have great women to my life you know my boss, jen Dario.

Tim Shoop:

Let's talk about Jen. Jen Dario yeah, let's talk about her and something that a lot of people don't know about Jen. I hope I hope she listens to this show.

Josie Keck:

She will after today.

Tim Shoop:

She is a workout fiend. She works out at what time every morning.

Josie Keck:

She buy, she cycles like on the road for from five to seven every morning. Five to seven, two hours, and we've been out before where we had a few IPAs. Okay, I don't like to get up in the morning if I drink a few IPAs and I before I wanted to sleep and let my body rest.

Josie Keck:

That woman wakes up in the morning and she's working out for two hours, but she's very passionate to the passion that she has about work and she is the most empathetic person I ever met, you know, and she really inspires me because, like you said before, josie, like, don't get on my bedside. Yeah, very passionate, like I want, and she's. She's a person sometimes when I like I, I'm very passionate about my job. So when things are not working, I want to call the product manager and say what a heck, make this work. And I just get, I go on and she and she tells me take a step back. She said do not send the email today, let's just step away. Let's chat tomorrow morning when we first come in, and usually it's a good thing that she tells me to step back because I'm, but she never send an emotional email.

Josie Keck:

I mean, I don't call it emotional, I call it passion Okay. Passionate email. Yeah.

Tim Shoop:

But if that passion is deciphered out of context on the other end as something else, it becomes a bigger problem 100%.

Josie Keck:

You know a lot of special people in IT today. They live behind screens. Text message, emails, you know, for me, being sales, I'm a communication. I want to. I want to pick up the phone and have a call with you. Right, we want to have a conversation and when I email somebody or call, they don't call, they email me back. So let's get on the phone and talk about this, because text message and emails can you read something, but you cannot read the emotion or you might read the emotion incorrectly. So it is important to have the person.

Josie Keck:

Again, we're in technology but, the people need to connect because we're two humans. This is not Josie AI sitting here. It's Josie the human, the real person. So I have emotions, you have emotions, and when you're upset and you call me and then you later say, hey, I'm sorry, don't listen to the voicemail, if I listened to, or if you send me an ugly email, we probably will not be here today.

Tim Shoop:

No, but I sent you an ugly voicemail.

Josie Keck:

You did.

Tim Shoop:

We're still sitting here today.

Josie Keck:

I didn't listen to it.

Tim Shoop:

Because you didn't listen to it. Did you listen to it? I did not.

Josie Keck:

I told you last night, I told you I didn't. I, I know myself, I know myself. I'm like, if he told me not to listen, it was ugly. I'm not going to listen to it. It was so bad it was. It's good.

Tim Shoop:

And it was out of character for me, because even here I will not talk to someone. If I'm upset with them, I will wait, collect my emotions, stick to business and treat it like this.

Josie Keck:

You're a human being, and that's so hard to do for you to even talk about this.

Josie Keck:

Like we're all humans. We make mistakes, you know, and sometimes it's good to step back. And Jen, going back to Jen Daddy or she really I feel like we balance each other out. I have this thing where we do events together. As you know, I'm a planner. So three months before I am freaking out, jen, where are we staying? Where's the hotel? Do we book everything? It's like, josie, just wait. No, I can't wait. I'm going to let everybody know. I had a time, so and I'm like we're going to go here, we're going to go there. There's no deviation. So I'm like I have my favorite part of this.

Tim Shoop:

What we're talking about is the fact that you're a woman and your boss is a woman in the tech industry. That makes it even more dynamic, you know, more powerful of a message, and. But here's the, here's the interest, here's the flip side to that. I really wanted to get Jen on this show because it's my understanding, having gotten a known you guys, that she wouldn't be able to handle these four little beers here. No, and I want to say it to see if she listens to the show. So, jen, if you're listening to the show, get on here so I can get you a nice little buzz by segment three and we can have a little bit of fun.

Josie Keck:

You might have to do like wine tasting. Maybe I heard that you might want to do this some point. Remember I listened to your podcast.

Tim Shoop:

This is a beer show.

Josie Keck:

It's a beer show we can do like beer free.

Tim Shoop:

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

Josie Keck:

I'm gonna listen to your podcast.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah.

Suds:

No, I appreciate that. I don't know how to pick out wine.

Tim Shoop:

I can't help it he doesn't know how to pick out wine, you'll be getting a corner store wine. So let's talk corner store. We're going to. We're going to drink some, some, what was it? Some Boone's Farm?

Josie Keck:

I don't even know what that is, but it must not be good.

Tim Shoop:

That's what teenagers drank in the 80s, because we couldn't afford anything else. And then you woke up with a massive headache the next day.

Josie Keck:

Oh no.

Tim Shoop:

I'm dating myself. Ladies and gentlemen, yes.

Tim Shoop:

I was a kid in the 80s. So let's talk about some famous women in tech and lead into this next thing. I want to talk about personal anecdotes and stories of women who have made a difference in technology. So, while I'm talking about one famous woman that I admire for what she's done in tech, I want you to start thinking about maybe some other folks that you work with or have come across like we mentioned Nashville in the tech industry that have inspired you, either famous or not famous, that you either know or don't know.

Tim Shoop:

So let's let's focus in on on Cheryl Sandberg. So, of course, everyone knows her for her role at Facebook, but, more importantly for this segment, I want to talk about her fount founding the leanin movement. So me and Kathleen were pinpointed there with the leanin movement extended to Pensacola one year and we were invited to sit on a panel and talk about us as a husband and wife working together in the tech industry and how we've had to lean in, both professionally and personally to keep it working. People always ask me how do you guys make it work? We stay in our lanes.

Josie Keck:

It's amazing how you guys make it work, because I know I can all work with my husband. I love him to death, but no.

Tim Shoop:

Now a younger version of me and a younger version of Kathleen. Prior to us getting married worked together in tech and I think I fired her 13 times. She quit 13 times. The door was slammed in my face, the door was slammed in her face and we always joke that we almost didn't get married because of that. But it's not true. How could I not marry? She's an amazing woman and I know she listens to this podcast.

Josie Keck:

But she knows that.

Tim Shoop:

But fast forward and people ask me how do you guys make it work? We've been working together now in digital boardwalk for 10 years. I started digital boardwalk like 14 or 15 years ago, but she's been part of it for she just did her 10 years this past year and I tell everybody because we stay in our lanes. Now work sometimes flows over to after five and we're at the dinner table talking about something we're trying to get past, but that's okay because it's engaging conversation that we're both passionate about and we stay in our lanes as far as our roles go and it works and we're very successful at it.

Tim Shoop:

So Leenan, so let's stay on that topic. Let's talk about Sheryl Sandberg. So she has her book, so you can go to leaninorg. But Lean In Women, work and the Will to Lead. That's her book. It really sparked a global movement encouraging women to pursue leadership and break down barriers in a male-dominated industry, right? So are you familiar with the leanin?

Josie Keck:

movement. Yeah, I was briefly part of it. Appriver was getting involved with that before the acquisition, so I was briefly involved.

Tim Shoop:

So you were briefly involved. So, even with your brief involvement, tell me you know, based on what you know about it, does it resonate with you and your journey into this world of nerds?

Josie Keck:

It does, especially when you talk about you and Kathleen being together in this business. Every time I get a partner you know I don't get a lot of new partners on because I've been with Zeke's AppRiver so many so I have like a established number of partners that I have that I nurse those relationships and I like to say you probably may have heard me say this or not I don't sell anything, I develop relationships. Yeah.

Josie Keck:

Then you come to me for advice what do you have that can fit the need? And sometimes I make a suggestion and say, hey, I think you should switch your backup to your backup Right, so I can make a suggestion based on what I know about my product and I think you'll be better with us, because then you got our support too. But every time I talk to I have a few partners or husband and wife together, and I think that is so powerful. First of all, you're together, you're in this together, and then you get a different point of view too, of Kathleen. And.

Josie Keck:

I see sometimes when she and I have been in calls or have conversation about situation, that I can see a little bit of Tim Schup coming out. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing because we feed off of each other. And sometimes my husband I talk about this. Sometimes when I get like passionate about something, he goes you acting just like me. Now that's funny. And then I have to sit back I'm like no, I don't want to be Josie, but it's great. So the diversity, the inclusion, when you have a husband and wife business like that, or if you don't have a wife who wants to be in the industry, maybe she has a different passion, a different career just having another woman in the leadership role to give you the feedback, to give you the different perspective, I think is very important.

Josie Keck:

I think that every MSP should have a woman, a female, there with them to help them understand, and also that the nurturing I was listening to this podcast with Marie Weeds.

Tim Shoop:

Love her.

Josie Keck:

Love her too, and I even I messaged her the other day.

Tim Shoop:

Shout out, marie. I hope you listen to this. She has her own podcast.

Josie Keck:

I know, I listened to it. That's how I and I messaged her the other day. I'm like, hey, when the new podcast is coming out, like last one was in December, why don't you?

Tim Shoop:

tell what's the name of her podcast? Can you tell it's Women in Technology. Women in Technology, Women in Technology. Is it perfect for this segment?

Josie Keck:

She brings, like all this, great women from Google, women who do different things in technology. I listened to one time and I tell you, first time I listened to her podcast, I woke. We all have good days and bad days. Sometimes you wake up you're like, no, I don't want to do this, I'm so tired over whatever.

Josie Keck:

I woke up in the morning, went to the gym and I listened to one of her podcasts and it changed my week and changed my day and I messaged her and she I messaged her on LinkedIn and she said thank you so much for this, because we were thinking if this was really reaching the right audience, if people really but it is, it is, it is.

Josie Keck:

It's amazing for me, as a woman technology to listen to other women talk about their challenges. We all have challenges. It doesn't matter if you're a woman or a man, we all have challenges, but sometimes a woman, because we're the smaller amount of people in this industry, you feel alone, yeah, especially if you don't have communication. I have my boss, who's amazing, and she's a female, so I can go to her and tell her like I'm not feeling included, whatever the reason is. And so, marie, really I forgot what I was talking about. But, marie, I was going somewhere and I lost my train.

Tim Shoop:

No, you were talking about Marie and her podcast and how you listened to it, but we were staying on the roll of. We got into it by talking about leaning in. But we asked you how does it resonate with you and your journey hearing these stories of leaning in and Cheryl Sandberg's movement? That's how we got into this.

Josie Keck:

Yes, I was going to say something about Marie. So she's coming up with a new podcast now. I'm really excited about it. But again, going back to my point earlier, I think that every business like I have a lot of MSPs. They're all men, right, and when I go and I talk to a woman, I think it's important to have a female in that, just to have the different perspective, the different point of view, the nurturing. I remember now what we're going to. So Marie was talking about how she was interviewing somebody and saying that the girls from birth it's changing a little bit we are taught that we need to go into nurturing careers because we have the nurturing side of us. We're mothers.

Josie Keck:

If we're not mothers, we're aunts, we're sisters and we have a different warmth in life. So you can be a nurturing person in technology, you can carry that on, and I think we need that.

Tim Shoop:

My wife, Kathleen, nurtures our customers. She is the one that steps in, she truly cares. And we talked about how you got in. You were going to be in the legal industry and you kind of stumbled in attack. Yes, Kathleen, when we wanted to have children, we were trying to build a schedule and brought her over to digital boardwalk so we could build that schedule around her. So we could, her and I could have Caleb and Tori and who you know they're, they're, they're chip off the old block.

Josie Keck:

I feel like I know them as much as we talk about them.

Tim Shoop:

And if you've watched any digital boardwalk videos, we actually have a video of them growing into us, because they look exactly like us.

Josie Keck:

Yep.

Tim Shoop:

Younger versions. Obviously Caleb doesn't have gray hair. Why is that funny?

Josie Keck:

Just not funny. Okay, don't laugh. Okay.

Tim Shoop:

So no, but she stumbled back in because we were trying to solve a problem for our personal life. But now she's the passionate driver and a lot of times she keeps me going.

Josie Keck:

She rubs that. She rubs that on YouTube.

Tim Shoop:

As you see. Well, and it's that nurture, that nurturing, because I watch her making the kids lunches in the morning, getting them out of out the door for school you know all the things she does around the house and then she's here all day for our customers and taking care of them. So, you know, I applaud, I applaud, ladies and gentlemen, women in tech, because they're not just handling what you see day to day in the job role, but they have jobs at home that they're passionate about too. I know Josie is a passionate chef at home. Oh, gosh?

Josie Keck:

that's my question. We've talked about that. I cooked. My husband gets a fresh cooked meal at least five days a week at least my passion. After finished work, I go downstairs to my kitchen and that's where the my artistic side and I like to cook things.

Tim Shoop:

That's where the magic happens.

Josie Keck:

That's where the magic happens. And he will ask me sometimes why are you doing this way? It's a lot more work and I'm like, because I like the process.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah.

Josie Keck:

It's like yes, I love to cook.

Tim Shoop:

So I asked you earlier to think about women, either famous or that you have met along the way or that you work with, and I'd like you to call out on the show any women in tech that have made an impression on you, either either famous or not. Go.

Josie Keck:

So I'm not much into famous people, to be honest. Okay, I read books, I I know about them, they're an inspiration, but they're not like my top people. The people who I come in contact again the human contact, the relationship are the ones who have changed my life. I have somebody who she actually was part of hire me at app river and I will never forget. Her name is Lori Jones. She was the HR person for app river.

Josie Keck:

The time, and she was the one who got me into the leaning program that we're doing in Pensacola too. She made an impact in my life Somebody who I worked for at the Levin firm. She was basically my first boss ever. Okay, and she's not in the tech industry, but an amazing woman in legal industry, which there's a lot of men dominated it's changing, but her name is Taxi Lambert. She's from Pensacola. And, of course, jen Dario is my current role model, who mentors me, who inspires me, who keeps me out of trouble.

Tim Shoop:

Love it. Love it, Josie. So let's talk about initiatives and programs aimed at promoting women in technology. Now I'm gonna feed into this because I did a little bit of research prior to the show. There are multiple. I'm just gonna name a few, but if you find this episode on YouTube, we'll have this list available on the video version at this part in the episode. So if you wanna refer back to the list, you can. First one is Microsoft, of course, has a Microsoft Women in Technology group that you can get involved in and discuss technology topics with other women and share ideas. Another good one is Girls who Code. Are you familiar with that? Okay, what do you? Okay, it's a nonprofit organization that aims to close the gender gap in technology by teaching girls to code and providing them with the support and resources they need to succeed. Do you wanna elaborate, or?

Josie Keck:

I just think you know I listen to podcasts and I read books and I listen and I'm part of a lot of like newsletter women in technology but Girls who Code, women's. Code.

Josie Keck:

I think it's amazing because that's not something that I would like to do, okay, but I admire girls who can do it and I wanted them to do it. I wanted them to create something amazing. So I, through my relationship building, through my people skills, I can present to the customer. Those girls are amazing at creating great products, but they might not be the best at presenting the product Right. So that's why we need not just women who can sit behind the community.

Tim Shoop:

But we need women who can communicate it. Communicate it who?

Josie Keck:

love technology, like I'm the one who likes to communicate, I could be selling whatever my husband likes to say that I can sell. I can sell ice to eskimos, but I don't think I can. I can only sell something. I'm passionate about it, because you probably just want to stand and tell you, too, one thing that most people go by coworkers know I don't have a poker face.

Tim Shoop:

Oh yeah.

Josie Keck:

So when we get in the meeting I'm always on camera.

Tim Shoop:

So right now you're smiling, but you're really mad at me.

Josie Keck:

No, I don't have a poker face. If I was mad at you, you would know.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah well, of course You'd find me under a rock three countries away, right Like according to Stan.

Josie Keck:

No, you would know. It's always funny because my manager, jen Daddy, will ask me sometimes. She's like what's wrong and I say nothing. I say no, your face says differently. So I don't have a poker face. But going back to women creating technology and letting me present that, and we need women who are in sales but also are passionate about they may not know all the technology, but they have to be passionate about the technology.

Tim Shoop:

Love it, Love it. One more that comes to mind is women tech makers. It's a global program that provides visibility, community and resources for women in technology. I didn't even know that existed.

Josie Keck:

I didn't know.

Tim Shoop:

That looks like a good one. So let's talk about insights into the unique perspective that women bring to the field. So we chatted about it briefly earlier, but I'm going to touch on a few and I'm going to let you elaborate, so I'll go ahead and tell you my thoughts and then we can get into a discussion around them. So the first one that comes to mind is diverse problem solving approaches. So I have women techs that have worked at Digital Boardwalk and ones that work here now. They're very organizational. I always brag. We have a girl in our implementations department named Becca, and she is so organized, and that's what I love about women in tech. I think women are better organized than men. Men, please don't stop listening to my show.

Josie Keck:

There are some we have beer on here. There's some men who are organized too.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, I make lists every day and we're teaching that to our kids now about the importance of lists and maintaining prioritization of things that you have to get done because it creates success. Somebody took me under their wing. I worked for a VAR back in the 90s a value-added reseller in Los Angeles in the 90s and I had them take me under their wing and the first thing they taught me was make a list every day. Since I was 25 years old, I've been making a list every day.

Tim Shoop:

Even if I already have a list, I will make a new list.

Josie Keck:

It's amazing when you cross the list off, isn't it? Oh my god?

Tim Shoop:

It's so rewarding.

Josie Keck:

Yes, that is a check. Oh. Just ta-da Yep. I block my calendar at the end of the day, play it next day as I kind of go through the list. What have I not done today and build a new list.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, that's what I do. That's what I do, and then I check them off. Women often approach problems from different angles, right they? You draw on your diverse experiences in your backgrounds. The diversity of thought leads to innovative solutions and creative problem solving. So, and I see that with Becca in that department she's really leading a charge and I love that about her and I love that you know that unique approach to problem solving that women do bring Collaboration and communication. I'll throw that out there. We talked a lot about that today. Do you want to add to that?

Josie Keck:

I want to say to women we are more socially aware too.

Tim Shoop:

That's a good one.

Josie Keck:

We're socially aware, like we will notice things. I think that's one thing communication, social awareness. You know, I would tell my husband something. He goes wow, you are so smart. He like, how did you know that I'm like? Well, if you were paying attention, you would notice that person's body language, the way they were not comfortable with this. But I think women are more socially aware of people's feelings, what they're talking about. Sometimes people say one thing. Well, they really mean another thing. Not reading too much into it.

Josie Keck:

But really being socially aware of what's going on.

Tim Shoop:

That's a good one. Another one that comes to mind is user-centric design. Now I want to get into this, because me and my wife are doing a remodel at home right now. I'm all about function.

Josie Keck:

She's all about you want to finish that what it looks.

Tim Shoop:

Yes, she's all about the aesthetics and how it's gonna, and I'm all about function. And sometimes function and form don't collaborate because some things you can't have function in a way you want if it's formed a certain way, and so that comes over into the tech industry. Let's just talk about coding. I mean, if a dude writes code for a new piece of software, the GUI or the graphical user interface or the user experience might be really crappy.

Josie Keck:

It is. You need a woman to tell him like it will look better. It will catch people's attention. It'll be easier to use. If things were set in a certain way or look in a different way. People's eyes will go straight to that. Just women like situation awareness, social awareness.

Tim Shoop:

Yes, and user design yes. User design Because if you think about it, you can compare. This is how I would compare it Front page from the late 90s to designing a website, to today's technology of building on WordPress and having it form out a certain way. The way a website would form is how I would compare a men's designer Men's design, because it's just so.

Tim Shoop:

Empathy and inclusion we talked about that, you talked about Jen and empathetic just the different things that women bring to the workplace in the form of empathy. You understand the challenges that faced by underrepresented groups. Now, I do too. We try. We're very diverse in digital boardwalk with our hiring. We wanna make sure we're doing the best we can to hire all different kinds of people from different backgrounds and different. We have people shoot the guy that, for instance. I'm gonna talk about a dude here but he runs our project department but he comes from the hospitality industry. He didn't know tech but he knew how to manage a project. I have somebody in our cybersecurity department. She's, you know, ex-marine, very hardcore, but we had a nice chat yesterday over a cookout and what she brings to the table in the form of organizational skills and just leading the charge and making sure we're ahead of the curve and she's very passionate about it. To Becca I mentioned earlier in our implementations room, I mean she's just, she's very determined.

Josie Keck:

I think the men are very problem solvents. Okay, has Kathleen ever come to you with a problem and you immediately like you wanna solve that problem? My husband does that. I wanna share something at work that I am thinking he's like wow, you need to do this and this. I said I'm not asking to solve this problem.

Josie Keck:

I wanted you to just listen. Okay, when there's a problem, you immediately goes I'm gonna go solve it, right? We as women, I think most what we do is take a step back and look at the whole situation like why do we have this problem? Maybe it doesn't need to be solved, Maybe it was solved by itself, but you, as your male mindset is always to go tech with a problem and solve it.

Tim Shoop:

We just need to lean in.

Josie Keck:

Yes on each other, Because sometimes we women need to take a problem and solve it too, not just let us solve it.

Tim Shoop:

And man, I don't wanna call you out on the show because I want you to keep listening, but listen, you need to listen. You need to listen to the women in your life and the women in your workplace, because you know there is a challenge brought to women in the workplace obviously. I mean, if you just go back in history of the evolution that the United States has gone through, I mean, my goodness, look where we are today versus where we were in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. I mean it was awful.

Josie Keck:

Yep.

Tim Shoop:

It was awful, you know, for women and black people, and just, I guess I'm supposed to say African-American, but I don't see them any different than me, and you know. And then of course, the privileged white man is we're the bad guy, now You're the problem. But you know, and I think, to a degree, historically, historically we have been, and, but I think we're getting better, and I think that it's better all the way around, because here's the deal the United States will evolve a lot more quickly when you expand that talent pool into the folks that you didn't give that opportunity to before. And look, look at Baraka Ba, look at the people that have come up.

Josie Keck:

I mean, you just look at countries today and not again into politics who do not include women, who do-.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, we definitely don't want to talk politics, but you're right.

Josie Keck:

How they are behind, how they're so behind.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, no, I agree, and but hopefully we can just all love one another and be a better world for it. So breaking stereotypes was the last one that I wanted to talk about, because women are breaking stereotypes. Women challenge stereotypes by excelling traditionally male dominated fields like the tech industry. Your achievements inspire others and pave the future for pave the way for future women like my 11 year old daughter, your daughter, yes, so that's what I'm.

Josie Keck:

I always think, as you're talking about man, you calling out man to listen, to embrace women in the workplace, that's your daughter tomorrow. Yeah. Now your daughter's niece or your granddaughter if you don't have females in your life, or your best friend's daughter. So you're paving the way. You as a man, not just females, are paving the way. Men are also paving the way for other women.

Tim Shoop:

Yes, so before we get to our next beer, and let you finish that last beer, josie yeah, I like to call you out for those of you that aren't watching this. She's still got a beer to finish. So what advice? Last two questions before we get into segment three. What advice would you give to those looking to enter the cybersecurity or technology sales industry, especially women?

Josie Keck:

Don't be afraid. You can go to a job interview and tell them I don't know what domain is. I actually heard from another woman. She's on our team and she's amazing. She worked for Microsoft and she told me her first technology job she went to apply for a software and software development company. She did not know what software was.

Tim Shoop:

Oh wow. So amazing.

Josie Keck:

So when I told her my story. I didn't know what domain was. She said. Let me tell you mine. I applied for the software development company and I didn't know what software was. So don't be afraid. If you're passionate, if you're curious, you don't even have to be. You might be curious. I wanna learn more about this. Now let me tell you something about the tech industry. You're learning something new every day. There will not be a boring day in your life. There's always gonna be something challenging you, expanding you. So don't be afraid, just go for it. Go for it and find other women. Connect. Like Tim mentioned earlier, there's a few. You know what you call communities, or they are there to help women entering the tech industry.

Tim Shoop:

Fine, Just do a Google search.

Josie Keck:

For Google search, you know, or Microsoft AI. That can also help you find that Co-pilot co-pilot can help you.

Tim Shoop:

Well, we're gonna get into that. In the next segment, we're gonna talk about what Josie is really passionate about, and that is the world of cybersecurity, open text and digital boardwalk. Yes, so we definitely wanna talk about that. Before that, and before we have our next beer, better finish that one. In your experiences in this industry, what strategies have been successful in encouraging more women and girls to pursue careers in technology? We just talked about encouraging them, but can you give just one strategy they can take? Like you, you talk to people and there's all kinds of you know. You just gotta go out and apply, right. You just gotta go out and show them who you are. Don't be afraid, right, you said don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to go out and challenge yourself.

Josie Keck:

Yes, but let me tell you something the people who can help these girls who are scared to join this nerdy world that we're in, it's us, yeah, it's us. We need to welcome them. I always been that person. It's funny because I took, like this strength test in the other day and it came up I'm a wool girl, means I'm always welcoming others, you know. And.

Josie Keck:

I remember from like I run into people that I used to work with or worked at app wherever before, and one thing that they tell me oh my gosh, when I started working there, you were the only person who actually came up to me, said hi and told me if you need anything, just reach out to me. It's up to us to encourage these women, these girls that want to. They can have all the courage in the world If they walk into your office here and they get a bunch of people who don't even say hi to them it's scary.

Josie Keck:

It's scary to be. Not everybody has the resilience, you know, to pass that barrier. Not care that nobody welcomed her. A lot of these girls need to feel welcomed. So it's up to you not just me as a female To me, as a female like I do, even more because I know what it's like to be that girl entering the office. Doesn't know the technology but wants to learn, doesn't know what to add, the right question to ask. But you, as a man, you are like I said earlier before. I am not the only one paving the way for other women in this industry. You, as a male, you're also paving the way for these women, so you're welcome them. Make sure that they feel comfortable. No questions, a stupid question. Ask me questions and if you need to ask me three, four times, ask me again until you get it, it's okay.

Tim Shoop:

I love it. I love the passion. When you talk about that, I mean you know and you're inspiring. I hope there's at least one lady listening to this show that can be inspired by Josie and what she is overcome to get to where she is, and that is such a good segue into beer number three. Let's do it Suds Drink.

Suds:

All right. The third beer of the night is the Blueprint IPA from Birds Fly South AO Project, South Carolina. A balanced, juicy, double dry hopped IPA brewed with Guava Puree for full flavor and complexity and hop bursted with Mosaic, Centennial and Citra hops.

Josie Keck:

Jing-ching.

Tim Shoop:

Mm Jing-ching, I love that one.

Josie Keck:

That was good yeah that's good.

Tim Shoop:

Maybe you'll drink the whole one Mm. So, stan, if you're listening, josie's not drinking all of the beer.

Josie Keck:

I have all night. I'm going to the water You're going to.

Tim Shoop:

She's trying to pace herself. So, the world of cyber security it's so exciting. I love cyber security. I love what we get to talk about in this next segment and I hope you made it to this segment, especially you entrepreneurs, you business owners, you small to medium sized business owners, you big enterprise uh, c, c level folks out there, please take this seriously. The world of cyber security, open text and digital boardwalk is what we're going to talk about. Wow, and this is your passion.

Josie Keck:

Yes.

Tim Shoop:

So I know I'm going to light you up like a firecracker when we talk about I don't have a poker face. Yeah no, you can't, she can't. It's either the beer or she's getting happy just thinking about talking about.

Josie Keck:

Obviously, I'm not drinking my beer.

Tim Shoop:

I know, come on. So in today's digital age, cyber security is more critical than ever. Provide some insights, please, into the significance and some of the challenges it presents.

Josie Keck:

Wow, first of all, I want to start talking about being cyber secure and cyber resilient. I talked about this all the time and I say over and over again because it's a you know they say take seven times different way, you say, for somebody to finally get it. So we want to make sure that your cyber secure, or your customers, are cyber secure, and then they're cyber resilient. What does that mean? What's the difference? Cyber secure is that we're going to put all these tools around your business to protect. There are so much going on out there. Somebody's after your business every day. Okay, and I know because I work with this and we run reports and we can see how many fishing attacks Tim got Like in the past week it can be like 157 times somebody tried to send them a fishing attack. But, being cyber secure, we have all this the solutions that we put to protect your email, to protect your network, to protect your endpoints, to encrypt your email. So all those private information is not going out on the web Like anybody can grab it.

Josie Keck:

That means you're being cyber secure is like locking your house. Protecting your house. I put in all these keys Now. It's not if it's when somebody gets in, because they will eventually. There's not a hundred percent proof technology. Go ahead.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, no, it's that analogy that you just used. I use quite a bit and I talk about layers, cyber security layers. It's so important because the bad actors, whether here or abroad they are mostly abroad they're always coming up with new ways to get into your house, so to speak, you start with the fence.

Tim Shoop:

You got your firewall. They got to get over that privacy fence. Once they're over that privacy fence, they might deal with a dog. That might be your second layer. Maybe that's your endpoint protection. Then they get to the window or the door. They've got to break it open right, so they've got to penetrate that. How are they going to do that? Are they going to use a fishing attack? Are they going to use some other sort of way to get into your network? Then, once they're in the house, they got to deal with the alarm system. That might be another layer. At Digital Boardwalk we deploy 13 layers of defense.

Tim Shoop:

If they get over four, they still got a ton more to get over before they penetrate that network. We have not had a ransomware event knock on wood in a long time because we are ahead of the curve. A lot of that has to do with a lot of the products we deploy from Open Text App River XIX. We're going to get into those. Email threat protection. Etp is one of them. I'm going to name a few Then I'll have you elaborate specifically on these. I know when I talk to you off air you just light up talking about these things. Let's mention a few folks.

Tim Shoop:

So ETP means email threat protection. We have information archiving which can be used for litigation purposes, especially how it impacts any person or business that deals with legal cases. Email encryption so businesses need to stay compliant. In many different industries, whether it's PCI or FINRA or whatever it is, you've got to stay compliant.

Tim Shoop:

So email encryption your solution is fully automated, so it takes the guesswork out of when users should or shouldn't encrypt, which was a problem back in the day because they had to do a lot of extra things just to make sure that email was encrypted. But now we've come to terms with automation and AI, so we deploy that with your solutions O365, microsoft 365, still calling it O365, with your stance with Microsoft and your elevation in the industry with Microsoft, because of the clout that you guys bring to the table. And then, of course, we can't leave out Open Text, web, root and Endpoint Protection, security Awareness, training, dns Security. Go, josie, get to talk about what you guys do for lots of businesses across the world, but, as a digital boardwalk partner, we deploy a lot of your solutions.

Josie Keck:

So it is such a rewarding job. I can tell you this because to know that we're bringing all this protection to the business, and I work with MSPs like yourself who care about this, who are learning, who are growing with us. But going back to being cyber secure, I'm going to talk a little bit about being cyber resilient. I talk about is not if is when that bad person gets in your house, how fast can you get him out of there, and if he took something from you, how fast can you get it back. So so, being cyber resilient like we have our cloud to cloud backup okay, that we back up your entire Microsoft environment. Then we have a carbon that backs up your hardware to that, Like if somebody seals up from you and they hold you all your data and somewhere you're going to have to pay. What you do, you pay or you're not paying and you hear people saying don't pay, I, but we're not going to get into that. The whole thing is about you getting your data back up and continue to do business every day, every hour of your business counts.

Josie Keck:

So let's go through our products. Let's start with advanced email to our protection. Our email to our protection is the layer, the filter that we put in front of all of your emails. Microsoft, Google, workspace they come with a built in filter. Those, those two companies. They don't specialize in cybersecurity. They're developing greater, bigger things, and we it's our job to use the layer security approach.

Josie Keck:

What it does is stop spam viruses. Also watches for phishing attacks, ransomware attacks. We have a link protection. Every time one of your users gets an email with a link on and they click on it, it does a link analysis before allowing your user to love that, yeah, and it's like two seconds. It does say we're working and if it's good, you can go see it even on your phone when you get an email on your phone you look, yeah, analyze the link from for you, so, and if it's not a good link, it will let you know.

Josie Keck:

No, you can go there because it's a malicious link. So that's one of the things we have. The identity protection is very easy for somebody to go buy a domain that looks very similar to your and for those who don't know what a domain is so you know the name of your domain somebody can go buy like a digital boardwalk and change the eye or change a letter that looks like. So when you receive an email for digital boardwalkcom let me chime in there.

Tim Shoop:

If, folks, if you have ever gone to a website and typed it in wrong by like one letter, or put in the wrong extension it, and it takes you to some weird site, and you know, think about that for a minute Now. Normally you can tell the difference and you go oh, I see where I made the mistake. But if the bad actor decided to completely clone the existing site and make it look the same, but but change the links, because it's very easy to do nowadays Then you, as soon as you click that link, the bad stuff starts to happen. Start to happen, yeah.

Josie Keck:

Yes, so it's you know. So somebody can go buy a domain name. That looks like digital boardwalk. So when you we are multitasking every day, we're in our phones and our computers, you click on that email done so we do the analysis, we analyze the domain name, the username, like Tim, for example, if we get your, your, your email address, somebody can spoof your email address and it looked like oh, I got an email from Tim. Tim is asking to go buy me some credit. You know, gift cards for you know for Kathleen. He wants to surprise her for her birthday.

Josie Keck:

Whatever you know, it's very easy to do that, so we analyze that for you. Email to protection and we talked about our email encryption, or email encryption. Anybody who sends any person information, sensitive information, or if you are in healthcare, financial industry, you must have encryption is a requirement.

Tim Shoop:

Because if it gets hijacked or intercepted, yes, talk about it.

Josie Keck:

We usually like to like to describe when you send an email out is like sending a postcard. When you send a postcard, would you send somebody a postcard with your date of birth, on the social security number and your credit card number and just mail. It say hey here it is.

Josie Keck:

You can use this. You will not do that. When you send an email, it hops from server to server. As it's making its hops, somebody can grab and read it. Right With the email encryption, it will make sure that my message go from me to Tim or he can read it and in the solution that we have, it takes out of the human arrow, out of the picture, is automated. It will scan the by automated.

Tim Shoop:

Yes, that's the key and that's what. And again, going back to user centric, focus on that user experience From a women's perspective, it works.

Josie Keck:

Our encryption product manager is actually a woman.

Tim Shoop:

Is it? Yes, see, I knew it.

Josie Keck:

Hey, Kathy.

Tim Shoop:

Hey.

Josie Keck:

Kathy, she's amazing. She's amazing, brilliant. So the email, you know you don't have to type in on the subject line, pound secure or pull like a different, you know, like outlook plug into sending crypto master. It will look at the body of the email, it will go down, like previous threads. It will also scan the attachments and we scan over 200 types of attachments to make sure there's nothing attached to the violates the policy that you set up. Moving on to archive, or archive is for discovery purposes I like to say who would? Anybody who has the potential to go into litigation today needs to have archive. Who is it?

Tim Shoop:

Everybody, every single person in this small business.

Josie Keck:

Everybody can go into litigation. Today we actually had a case was a client in Pensacola I'm not sure if it was your customer, it was a partner in Pensacola. It was a bakery. Okay, they let an employee go. The employee was soon the bakery owner for whatever. So the partner, the MSP, put archiving on their email and before they could really get into litigation, the bakery owner was able to get out of it because it was able to prove that, whatever the alleging was not correct. Yeah, okay. Now people ask me sometimes how, if I don't want to produce this data, well then you need your lawyer to know that there are things in your email in like because you don't have doesn't mean the other person doesn't have. Yeah.

Josie Keck:

Right. So if you're in the, if you're in the best situation, you better get out and settle in the beginning, then go through the whole litigation, Right. Yeah. So I can talk about this because of my background. I could talk about the archive.

Tim Shoop:

I love it.

Josie Keck:

The legal. I can go all day. Then we have Cloud to Cloud Backup. So why do you need archive? And then Cloud to Cloud Backup? We like to say archive is for discovery purposes, backup is for recovery purposes. So if, if somebody will take your, your Microsoft environment ransom and you probably seen this before our product is very easy with a click of a button you can restore mailboxes, calendar, sharepoint, sites. One drop.

Josie Keck:

Yeah, you can restore everything. So why don't we go into web DNS protection or DNS product manager? You may have Jonathan Barnett. That guy is like I like to call him the smartest man in our company because he's brilliant. He was an MSP for what? 25 years, so he builds the product with the MSP in mind, with our customers in mind Great product. We have our security awareness training, which is a is a product. Go ahead.

Tim Shoop:

Let's focus on. So, before we talk about security awareness training, what is the number one attack vector that bad actors love? It is people, people. And so when they send you that email, that phishing email, right, and you click on that, shout out to my friend, uh, devin Brown, he'll know what I'm talking about Um. What happened to your mobile call, uh, kim. What happens, you know that's when the bad stuff happens, so you know so.

Tim Shoop:

so, talking about security awareness training, and the importance of it and and making it not only informative but enjoyable. Right, and that's where you guys come in with the products that you have, because the animated. You know the the way that training works. It's very engaging, it's very quick and short for someone to go through and it teaches them about different attack vectors that they can now get around by understanding how it works.

Josie Keck:

Yeah, you know, if people learn differently, you can say here all day and talk about you should not do this, you should do this. Some people will listen, not listen. But then you send them a fishing simulation yeah, why, to see how many. I mean we just talked about this last month that don't click on on the USPS. You know delivery notice of a package that you're not expecting. But everybody wants to click and say, hey, what am I getting today?

Tim Shoop:

You know we actually had a customer, an end user, at a customer site get mad at us because we got them on a fishing simulator. I mean, he was mad and I'm sure he doesn't listen to the show, but he got mad about it. But you know, and then you know, was mad at us, for I think he was embarrassed. But the big thing to take away here is we were doing our job. We were doing our job by letting him know that, hey, you might need this training. You need to go through it because you need to understand it, because if you pull that business down with one click, data, data is the most important thing in a business. I'm sorry, but intellectual property, data and all the stuff that you house now digitally, is, next to humans, the most important, but it is the biggest thing that can bring you tumbling down.

Josie Keck:

Absolutely, absolutely. And humans would say that we are the weakest links. Right. When I used to work in Gulf Breeze, in the office at River, they used to do all those things like dropping the heart. You know the little thumb drive like in the parking lot to see if you're going to return. Or somebody will come and ask you hey, do you mind if I just walk with you, obsessed I'm going to go to talk to so-and-so and you say no, no, no, no, I got to escort you to. There's so many different ways that they can get through, you know physically or with a jump drive, or you know emails.

Josie Keck:

And in our training is also seasonal. We build based on what's happening in the world. It can be like Christmas time where people looking at advertisement, or it can be tax season. We build those training based on the industry that you're in, but also based on what's going on with COVID. Covid was, I think that when COVID broke out, efficient attacks went from like. It went from like 200 something percent to a thousand something. It was like it just grew exponentially.

Tim Shoop:

It was crazy you know, and we are constantly trying to stay ahead of those bad actors. And you know, I was just reading an attack the other day that happened in Hong Kong and this is scary. But I guarantee you, ladies and gentlemen, we will come up, there will be a solution in the night. Yeah, you better drink that in the night. Your coworkers are going to pick on you, Josie, when they watch. If they watch the show, they're going to see she didn't drink any of the beers. She didn't drink any of the beers. But so the CFO was based in Hong Kong, the CEO based in the UK, the management team distributed across various, various geographies. So they had a teams meeting. The CFO was in that meeting, the CEO, the management team was all in that teams meeting. The management team and the CEO were telling the CFO we've created these new accounts.

Josie Keck:

Okay.

Tim Shoop:

And we need to transfer this money into these different accounts for some things we're working on. The CFO questioned why they wanted to transfer $250 million into these five new accounts that were brand new, that he just got the account information today from them in the team, but because it was coming from the CEO and they were on video it was them in a teams chat he, you know, he questioned himself because he's like, well, this is coming down from the chain of command. I'm sitting here right with him. I got to do it. So he transferred the money.

Tim Shoop:

A week later, the business found out about it and it became a big deal because they were all deep faked, so their voices were all cloned, which that is a thing, ladies and gentlemen. Using AI, you can clone audio, but you can also and everybody knows it, because they're taking Taylor Swift and Putner on different situations and this and that now, but that is a thing. So what they did, they did a deep fake of the manager. They hacked the network to get information on that management team and they and because there were recordings and different things stored in that network, they were able to use those recordings to clone the voice and then deep fake everybody on that management team and then they put them in to a teams meeting and told the CFO this is what you will do, and of course he did it, and so that's the next thing.

Tim Shoop:

And AI you know we all see it as a fun toy right now and the government obviously sees it as a menace because of the, the in the tech industry, because of the potential bad thing, potentially bad things that can create in the world, and it can. And that is just one scenario. But open text, six app, river digital boardwalk. We will be there and we will have a solution to even augment those situations and that's why we're always trying to stay ahead of the bad actors. And before I ask you the last question in this segment, I'm challenging you, miss Josie Keck, to drink that last beer.

Josie Keck:

I do want to say something about AI. So AI can be a scary.

Tim Shoop:

I think she's diverting ladies and gentlemen from drinking that beer.

Josie Keck:

AI can be a scary thing, but you know if you think about it, I think we all need to learn about AI. Yeah. We want to learn about AI and people talking about, oh, is AI going to take our jobs? No, there will be. There will be people who know about AI and those who don't know about how to use AI. So in my little little short story that I wrote to my, to my friend's daughter, I talk about that AI is a good thing when it's used responsibly. Yeah.

Tim Shoop:

It needs to be used responsibly and and there's a lot of good things that AI can do for us and you know, I and we're not even going to. We don't have enough time in the show to talk about Microsoft Copilot.

Josie Keck:

We'll come back for the second one.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, I think we need to do another one and bring Kathleen in and really dive in the Copilot and we'll have a whole show. I mean, we can build a whole show on Copilot.

Josie Keck:

Absolutely, and people need to know about this. If you have not sparking interest, I challenge you to go learn.

Tim Shoop:

I was using it today.

Josie Keck:

You know that the James Bond. So I hosted a show in November and I created a theme with my James Bond theme. So every presenter for my team I have different product managers there. They're all an agent name. My boss was Q and then her boss was M and that was.

Tim Shoop:

I was on.

Josie Keck:

So yeah, we're doing another one.

Tim Shoop:

So my last question to you Before we drink another beer, or I drink another beer, shout out to all of Josie's coworkers.

Josie Keck:

Yes.

Tim Shoop:

She's not drinking her beers. As a cybersecurity expert, as somebody in the field, what do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the industry today? Is it AI? Is it security awareness for the individual? Is it just the entire spectrum of cybersecurity that they need to focus on? What is it?

Josie Keck:

Oh, I think it's already above.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah.

Josie Keck:

You know, security awareness is one, and then people don't want to spend the money. Yeah. And that's the thing. Like you cannot, if you're going to lock your house.

Tim Shoop:

You can't put a price on it.

Josie Keck:

You cannot put a price. If you're going to lock your house, the lock to you know. You know, doug Cascio. You know Doug Cascio, he's fun. He was in Pennsylvania.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, I like Doug. He was supposed to be on this show.

Josie Keck:

Hey, doug, sorry, doug, we didn't invite you.

Tim Shoop:

Hey.

Josie Keck:

Doug Next one. But if you bring Doug here, you know you won't say a word. He's going to talk the entire time.

Tim Shoop:

Oh yeah, doug will take over the show. That's probably why we didn't have him here.

Josie Keck:

Maybe that's why.

Tim Shoop:

Doug. Sorry, I got to get a word in.

Josie Keck:

Yes, so Doug likes to explain. He said you know when people say but why do I need this? And Doug said well, I would love to come out of my car with my grocery bag, just walk right into my house, but guess what? I need to put my bags down, take my keys out of my pocket. We're not talking about having a touchscreen or anything. Just unlock the door and get into my house. You need to have, and people don't want inconvenience to you.

Josie Keck:

That's another thing, it's not just the money. It's like do I need to have MFA? Let's just come over here for an entire podcast.

Tim Shoop:

Yes, MFA is so important. Yes or yeah or authenticator.

Josie Keck:

Yes, exact, oh my gosh. I got to have, like I carry, two phones and my authenticate is in the other phone. Like which phone do I get? It's necessary?

Tim Shoop:

You got to have it. It is an inconvenience. It is Compared to the way we used to do everything. We think about it like the world's changing around us and we have changed and evolved to adapt to the different things that we do. Ladies and gentlemen, why don't you adapt your measures when it comes to cybersecurity to understand the importance of it? And I think a lot of it has to do with well, I'm not going to get attacked. That's a whole other show, because it is automated. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the bad actors use bot networks and the whole thing is automated. So they don't discriminate between Microsoft and John's Bagel shop. It's just. There is no differentiation with that. If they can get in, they're going to get in, and they're using bot networks to get in, and then it notifies them hey, I got in.

Josie Keck:

Absolutely, and it doesn't matter how small or bigger businesses. I like to tell the story. I had a partner in Nashville who had a customer seven users. They called in and said hey, we're canceling this email security you have in our account after we pay this last bill. So I look at their account and I noticed that the person who called me was the CEO. She had like a hundred I remember to this day the number 157 phishing attacks on the past seven days. So I called the MSP. It wasn't about the money, it was a seven user account. I called the MSP and said hey, do you know why they're canceling the account? They said, wow, they don't want to spend the money. The first time they came to me they were very worried that somebody was after their formula.

Josie Keck:

And I said well, have you looked at their dashboard? How much we have stopped in the past seven days? Well, long story short, the MSP called the CEO. Right, it was a seven user account. It wasn't again, it wasn't about the money, but the seven user account business to that person was her life, was everything that she created, everything. You know what I mean. It's all big or small.

Josie Keck:

And people, if you listen to this, in your small meeting or big sized business, you need to have an expert, like an MSP, like digital boardwalk, working with you, because these guys, that's all they do is look at your business. How can we protect you? And then they'll work with us to get the technology to you, but their job is to look at your business. How can we protect you? And that frees your time to do what's your business. If you're a lawyer, if you're a doctor, you can go practice what's your industry. Talk about staying in your lane. Don't try to be a cybersecurity expert. When you went to school to be a lawyer, you went to be school to be a doctor or a CPA or what real estate. Whatever you do, trust the person who's like. That's what they do. They breathe in and out every day cybersecurity. Trust the nerd.

Tim Shoop:

Trust, a digital boardwalk.

Josie Keck:

Trust digital boardwalk.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, we'll actually send you a link and you follow that link and we can actually analyze your complete network and look at your vulnerabilities within your infrastructure to see where the weak points are and we can fix them for you. It's pretty straightforward and that's the starting point and we can evolve from there and you can ask any business that goes to digital boardwalk. You can go on our homepage, on our website, and look at our MPS scoring and we have nothing but happy businesses that use us. And it's not just the technology we deploy I mean, we do that and a lot of that is so automated that it's hindsight for them it's the people they engage with too, not just the men, but the women, and that leads us to down that beer, josie. Oh, she's putting it back. Take the last one.

Tim Shoop:

We're going to conclude, and I want to ask you this question as we toast our last beer. Okay, I was going to come up with something catchy about what I want from now, but no, it's. As we conclude, share some final thoughts on the power of networking and building relationships, because that was a big part of today's show the power of networking and building relationships and the power of inclusion and diversity in the tech industry. And then top that off with what do you think the next 10 years, the next five and 10 years of the tech industry look like to the average small to medium sized business? With that, I'm gonna let you do the rest of the talking. Ching-ching, oh, what's the last? Beer. It's the Spacedus IPA from the Elysian Brewing Company.

Josie Keck:

Good one. Where's that from?

Tim Shoop:

Seattle Washington. Yeah, that's a good one. That's a zinger, so.

Josie Keck:

So the power of networking. Wow, we're better together right Power numbers. Power numbers. Like you meet people. It's so inter. Like I travel a lot personally. You know I travel some for work, but when I'm not traveling for work I just got back I was in Mexico beginning of January, then I was just in Utah I'm going to US Virgin Islands, then I'm gonna go to South Spain.

Tim Shoop:

So I'm always traveling and when I travel when you travel you have a Nerds on Tap sticker on the back of your laptop.

Josie Keck:

I do. I do have a Nerds on Tap, it's true. That is true when I travel. Like the thing that I like about traveling is the people that I meet and how different they are than how we are, how they think, and I like to get into conversation Like I don't know a stranger. I only know friends that I haven't met yet. Okay, Right, so when I meet people, I like to talk to them, ask them questions about their life, what they like, what they do, and you learn so much in this industry too, Even if it is like we have different departments in our like open texts. We have what? 26,000 employees today.

Tim Shoop:

That's a lot of employees.

Josie Keck:

It's a lot of people. I'm actually going to our president's club trip next week to the US Virgin Islands. We're like I think there's over a hundred of us employees all over the world gathering there together. But in the thing that I'm excited the most about this trip you know what it is.

Tim Shoop:

What's that?

Josie Keck:

To me the people that I haven't met yet because I want to know what they do, I want to connect with them and I want to see what is there every day. What else can I learn from them? So the network and when you're networking, it's not just about bringing your business, you know, putting your name out there, it's about you learning. You know. What you learn has so much more value than what you earn.

Tim Shoop:

Yeah, ah, say that one more time.

Josie Keck:

What you learn has so much more value than what you earn.

Tim Shoop:

That is a good way to end the show.

Josie Keck:

I just came up with that.

Tim Shoop:

No.

Josie Keck:

I did. It was the beer, the last one.

Tim Shoop:

You know, I was a poet and didn't know it.

Josie Keck:

There you go.

Tim Shoop:

So the next five years? All I want to know. We'll keep it short. Look at the camera over here on the left. Suds, make sure you're tuned in to Josie. You talk to the audience, you tell them what the next five years might look like and who they can call.

Josie Keck:

Well, the next five years can be scary If you don't have the right tools, if you're not working with the right people. Unfortunately, I like to say this I don't like to scare people. I want it to educate you. There are threats out there and it's growing. Unfortunately, the bad guys are working faster than we are. We are catching up, we're staying on top of them, but, like I mentioned earlier, you should focus on growing your business. Focus on what you do the best and let people like digital boardwalk they're the experts take care of your needs.

Tim Shoop:

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Episode 13 of Nerds On Tap with Josie Keck and Open Text at River Zix Platform. Love it. Thank you for coming on the show, josie, this was fun. And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for listening in. This has been such a great show, and it was Josie's first podcast ever, so that makes it even more special.

Josie Keck:

And lucky number 13.

Tim Shoop:

Thank you, bye-bye.

Josie Keck:

That was good.

Tim Shoop:

That was good Way to go. That was a long one. Cheers my fellow nerds and beer lovers. Stay tuned for more Nerds On Tap. Oh, and one more thing Help us spread the nerdy love and the love for grape roots by sharing this podcast with your friends, colleagues and fellow beer enthusiasts. Let's build a community that embraces curiosity, innovation and the enjoyment of a cold one.

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Tim Shoop

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