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Cybersecurity Director at Canada’s Largest Law Firm Solves Technology Challenges in ViB Community
1st
purchase made in January 2024
50%
of vendor research time saved
Large
investment in data storage via the ViB Community
Wayne Cross discovered a trusted source for vendor exploration and meetings as an active member of the ViB Community.
Overview
Wayne Cross has been Director of IT Cyber Security and Infrastructure Operations for Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) since 2010. BLG is Canada’s largest law firm, with 850 lawyers, five locations in Canada’s main city centers, and a hosted data center.
‘Cross manages a 18-person team, including cybersecurity specialists, messaging engineers, network specialists, storage and virtualization specialists, and desktop and mobile specialists. His extensive range of responsibilities includes everything from server storage to cybersecurity to compliance.
Wayne Cross
Active ViB Community member since 2022
Director of IT Cyber Security and Infrastructure Operations for BLG
“Because of the breadth of my IT responsibilities in BLG’s five locations, I receive a lot of vendor emails and phone calls. Often it’s difficult to know if I want to respond because, while I might be interested in the product being offered, sometimes vendors are very aggressive.
“When I saw an email come in from the ViB Community, I thought, ‘Okay, this is new. Someone is asking me if I have a problem that I needed to solve. And if I’m interested, I just need to click to get more details.’ I don’t need to have a meeting right away. I decided I wanted to give it a try.”
Challenges faced
Running the technology operation for a very busy and geographically dispersed law office comes with a wide range of challenges, says Cross. He needs a wide range of solutions to keep everything running smoothly and securely for the 850 lawyers and support staff working in five locations across Canada.
Cross said his ongoing technology challenges include:
- Data storage: “Law firms generate a lot of data, and much of it is unstructured,” Cross explained. “It’s always difficult to plan for how much storage capacity you need because we don’t know what cases the lawyers will decide to litigate. We’re experiencing exponential growth in data volume every year. As a result we need a dependable and flexible storage solution.”
- Cybersecurity: “Today, security is always a leading concern for technology leaders,” noted Cross. “But we’re a law firm, not a technology company. So we don’t have a massive staff to help keep everything secure. We really need good vendors with great solutions to support us in this effort.”
- Changing IT environment: “We are continually looking at the emails we get from ViB, because our technology needs are ongoing,” said Cross. “One example involves a vendor who executed a recent price increase. I’ve been actively looking for alternatives. So, we are continually looking and talking to new vendors. With the ViB Community’s vast range of vendors, I feel certain we’ll find the right replacement solution.”
- Generative AI: “This is a very new challenge for us,” said Cross. “Over the past year, we’ve been actively looking for vendors who can help us determine what we need to leverage AI capabilities.”
How the ViB Community helped
Cross said that he uses the ViB Community in four key ways:
- Solve the problems he’s experiencing: He likes to see who the disruptors are in the industry — the vendors with innovative new solutions who might be able to solve his IT challenges.
- Track the technologies he’s already using: Cross is interested in finding out if there are better, more modern, or more cost-effective alternatives to technologies he already uses. “Some of the vendors I’ve never heard of before and they’re doing some very innovative things,” Cross said.
- Expand technology insight. “I may just be interested in getting more details on a technology that I already own.”
- Share possible vendors with his internal peers. “If an interesting solution is for a service not under my direct areas of responsibility, I’ll often pass it off to the person in the company who is responsible,” noted Cross.
“The cool thing about ViB is that we can state what problem we want to solve before speaking to the vendor. That's the unique thing. When there’s a match in our challenge and their solutions, we set up a meeting.
“I’ve found some very interesting vendors that I wanted to have conversations with through the ViB Community. The process with ViB is easy and pressure-free. We just share a few details via email to ensure that we’re in sync and that the vendor’s solution matches our challenge. If it does, then we schedule a time for a no-pressure chat.”
Solutions discovered through the ViB Community
Cross said he has found several vendors through the ViB Community that he’s wanted to talk to and get more information about their solutions. Among them were:
- Pure Storage: An uncomplicated, cloud-based data storage application. In January 2024, BLG purchased a solution from Pure Storage, which marked BLG’s first purchase through the ViB Community.
- Abnormal Security: An email application that protects against attacks that exploit human behavior. “We are actively continuing our talks with the company,” said Cross.
Regarding this first purchase with Pure Storage, Cross said, “What we were looking for and what Pure Storage offered was a match. We had a great discussion and I found that the company had a solution that perfectly fit what we were trying to solve and our budget.”
By early 2024, BLG had purchased the Pure Storage solution for three of its five locations, with plans to make additional purchases. The investment so far is significant. “Because the solution fits what we need for data storage and Pure Storage was offering it at a great price point, we experience an ideal outcome,” noted Cross.
How the ViB Community works
Tech professionals join the community and share their job profile and interests
Using each member’s profile information and ViB’s vast partner network, the ViB Community puts together various personalized tech discovery experiences
Members can view all their tailored programs on the Community portal, and also be notified via email
If there’s a fit, members can freely apply to further review content, attend webinars, participate in surveys, and even meet vendors
Benefits of joining the ViB Community
Thanks to the benefits he’s gaining, Cross is an enthusiastic member of the ViB Community. The benefits include:
- Time savings: “ViB vendor connections help me save at least 50% of the time I spend on searching for vendors on my own. Also, we don’t need to get on a call with a vendor until we know it’s a good match which saves time and frustration.”
- Low pressure: “The ViB Community’s unique vendor contacting process makes the interaction with vendors more straightforward and less high-pressure,” explained Cross.
- Less frustration: “Searching for vendors is frustrating, because you’re constantly looking for the right solution at the right price and a vendor who will support their solution in the long term,” said Cross. “The ViB Community process helps me learn more about the vendors and determine if we’re a good match, fast and easier.”
- Large vendor network: “Because the ViB Community is so vast, there are so many vendors available to consider for our technology needs,” noted Cross. “I think there’s always bound to be a good fit for whatever challenge we’re facing.”
About the ViB Community
The ViB Community is an active professional network comprised of millions of technology decision-makers and influencers from a wide range of industries, including software, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and more. ViB curates programs based on community member preferences and each member is matched with solution providers that fit their interests and needs. If you play a role in evaluating technology and services for your organization, and find it tough to stay up to date with emerging technologies, join the ViB Community today at: https://vib.community/
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