Katie Perry, Vice President, Business Administration, Technium

In an interview with Invest:, Katie Perry, vice president of business administration at Technium, shared the company’s role in encouraging businesses to leverage cloud services for present and future needs and how the Greater Boston area is opening up new opportunities for younger students in cybersecurity and IT. “Through Mass Hire and the Youth Work programs, we are working to provide opportunities to students in high school or college to get business exposure and have Technium added to their resume as a stepping stone in their journey,” said Perry.

What are some of the significant achievements or milestones from the last 12 months? 

In the last 12 months, we have focused on outcome-based solutions for our customers and those in need of connectivity. We have really broadened the way we provide our services so that businesses, whether local, national, or global, understand the importance of securing their data and all the ways their data connectivity points meet. 

How are you adapting technology in the wake of hybrid working? 

The way we present our services is by identifying where your network and security points connect and the secure paths they take. We understand working environments and their different setups, so we are encouraging businesses to leverage cloud services for the scale and longevity of the business. At one point or another, all industries will essentially be hybrid or have some kind of duality when it comes to their data, so it’s about securing that data no matter where you are located. 

Where do you see the greater Boston region in terms of cybersecurity?

The Boston area is at the forefront of innovations and advancements. Here, we are in a leading role with the release of The Fabric and helping businesses understand the importance of securing data. We are also at the forefront of changing the landscape of the workforce. We are investing in the younger generations to get them interested in cybersecurity and IT and offering them hands-on experience so they have that under their belts before graduating high school. 

What are some of the partnerships and collaborations you have in place? 

Here at Technium, we operate using our Just Cause which is providing opportunities for anyone interested in the network and security field to explore it and get hands-on experience. We bring them in knowing they are the right person for Technium because we want to keep them at the end of the day if we can. 

We work with the Marlborough Public High School and have a Cyber Camp where seniors get training and receive Cisco certification. They can explore departments such as sales, marketing, finance, HR and so on because students may find interest in those fields within the cyber security industry. We launched Cyber Camp in Fall 2023 and it will end in May when those seniors graduate high school and we’ll start up again at the start of the next school year. We are also working with Blackstone Valley Tech, a vocational school that gears kids toward graduating and entering the workforce. 

Through Mass Hire and the Youth Work programs, we are working to provide opportunities to students in high school or college to get business exposure and have Technium added to their resume as a stepping stone in their journey. 

One of the other programs we have that I truly love is our Gate Program. It is designed for those with little to no experience in technology and who are interested in learning the field. They are essentially part of a several month-long scheduled training program to eventually be offered a position here at Technium. 

What would you say are the biggest challenges facing Technium and the technology industry? 

I think one of the biggest challenges is the understanding of what one needs. We are focused on connecting data in motion securely and are focused on outcomes-based solutions. We do not act like we can do it all and will easily refer partners because we recognize our limitations. The biggest challenge in the industry is people do not understand what they don’t know and a lot of companies out there will act like they can fix it all. We listen to what the end user is saying they need and recognize what steps they need to take to get there. We are setting them up to scale based on their strategic business plan rather than a company growing from five people to 100 and nothing being set for them to have grown to that size. We work with the end user to solve and recognize the actual problem and not just what is on the surface. 

How do you balance security with the need for connectivity? 

If you are a customer of Technium, we are not just setting something up and walking away. You will know our team members and will know their names and what services they are going to provide. We ensure that it is not just a checkbox and are making sure that what we put into place works well. We do our checkbacks, monitor and maintain, and ultimately provide results for the customer. 

Is AI being incorporated into your business? 

We have been utilizing security ops AI for over a year now. Essentially we use it to gather data and it eliminates some of the manual work. You still need an individual to read those reports and pull out the facts, but that is how we leverage it to eliminate inefficiencies. That is why I love the name Technium because it means the converging of humans and technology and that is what we do, connect humans with technology to secure the data in motion. AI is the shiny topic right now but it doesn’t mean it is the solution for everything. 

How are you adapting to economic challenges? 

Looking at the economy, we know it will be a tighter year in general for everyone so what we have done is ensure our culture remains positive and make sure we are taking on new initiatives as needed to help our team grow. We invest in our people and our training so we can promote them and make sure we can keep the right people here. We also want to continue messaging Technium externally as a connectivity and outcome-based solution company so customers understand it is not a set-it-and-forget-it process and requires constant updates and monitoring. 

What is your outlook for the next two to three years? 

We are looking to strengthen some of the partnerships we have with data centers and cloud providers to launch all of our cloud services that we are expanding on. We are looking to educate and train more individuals who currently want to enter the field and the third piece we are focused on would be building relationships with the community. It starts with talking to individuals to change how we operate or message what we do to enter with that outcome-based solution. We are just evolving what we currently do to meet demands and know what is to come.

We launched The Fabric two or three years ago and are still one of the only ones to offer it because of our partnerships with the data center. All of it starts with communication and education. We want to help people know what they don’t know and we love hearing from others what we don’t know.