Impact Optimize2018 – A Summit for a New Era
After months of cultivation and planning, Impact hosted dozens of executives from throughout Chicagoland at Impact Field in Rosemont for Impact Optimize2018 – the first ever technology summit hosted by Impact. It was a full day of presentations by subject matter experts, breakout sessions, networking and learning. Impact Optimize2018 was a fantastic example of a thought leadership summit with a singular focus – IT and business security.
Impact Optimize2018 was the brainchild of Impact executives who continued to see a recurring theme with their clients – the pressing need for more thorough cybersecurity measures that can keep pace with increasingly complex cyberattacks and threats. Impact technology executives including Vice President of Managed IT Services, Patrick Layton and Chief Technology Officer, Frank DeGeorge and their teams identify security-related pain points and arm their clients with the best tools in the industry to help them combat threats to network security and document integrity that impact every aspect of an organization’s critical operations.
The statistics accompanying these threats are alarming to say the least – including that nearly 40% of businesses were hit by ransomware or malware attacks in the last year. In a time when organizations are embracing remote work and bring your own device policies, the potential for these types of attacks continues to increase and the consequences become more severe. Impact Optimize2018 brought these issues to light and gave attendees actionable insights to implement in their respective organizations.
The keynote speaker at Impact Optimize2018 was Major General (Retired) Brett Williams, President of IronNet Cybersecurity. Widely hailed as one of the most sought-after speakers in the field of cybersecurity, Williams kicked off the summit with a rousing and relevant presentation on existing threats and exactly how to overcome them. His presentation was followed by insights from Impact executives and vendor/partners, including presentations by Disaster Recovery Expert Eric Torres of Datto, who shared how businesses can stay running despite a disaster with business continuity tools, and President Thomas Schneck of DocuWare, who discussed the value of document security solutions.
Following lunch (which included appearances by Chicago Dogs mascots Squeeze and Ketchup) attendees were treated to informative breakout sessions covering a wide range of IT and business security topics, including mobile device security, secure robotic process automation, penetration and vulnerability testing, security through private cloud solutions, cybersecurity insurance, print and printer network security, and security compliance – including the recent implementation of the General Data Protection Regulations of the European Union.
As the event wrapped up, Impact CEO Frank Cucco reflected on Impact Optimize2018 with pride: “I can remember back in 1999 when Impact was formed the extreme excitement I felt charging into a new adventure. Today that feeling once again overcame me. Impact is truly at a turning point. We are at the right place, at the right time with the right people and the right solutions. Today I saw the transformation before my eyes.
We have climbed onto a higher rung.” His sentiment regarding this epochal event reverberates throughout Impact and is indicative of the direction in which the organization is heading. Following this highly successful foray into large-scale thought leadership events, Impact is poised for a bright future. Impact would like to thank its generous sponsors for their contributions of resources and expertise. Sponsors included HP, Cisco Meraki, CloudJumper, ayfie, Datto, Nerdio, Kofax and StorageCraft.