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Cybersecurity is one of tmg-emedia’s most in-demand services. In addition to handling all aspects of cybersecurity, tmg-emedia also provides Consulting (strategic consulting, management consulting, and governance), Development (custom software development), and Managed Services (IT and Cybersecurity). A 30-year-old technology consultancy, they are headquartered in New York, with offices in Michigan, and dedicated development teams overseas. Below is our recent interview with Chris Moschovitis, CEO of tmg-emedia and author of “Cybersecurity Program Development for Business” (Wiley 2018):
Q: You’ve recently announced new cybersecurity book; could you tell us something more?
A: The book is the culmination of years of experience in the field, overcoming the challenges that all businesses have in understanding cybersecurity and establishing a pragmatic program to address cyber risk. The goal of the book is to provide boards, business owners, executives, and managers with a clear and concise guide to help them make the right decisions for their companies.
For example, two of the biggest problems we face in cybersecurity are first, the misunderstanding that cybersecurity is an Information Technology (IT) issue, and second our inability to complete a handshake between cyber professionals and company management. Cybersecurity is a risk-management problem, and needs to be dealt with as such. Communications issues have plagued technologists and business managers since the invention of the computer, and introducing another layer, this time of risk management, has only made things worse.
To succeed in protecting ourselves and our companies, we need to learn to communicate effectively between teams, and we need to learn to frame our challenges appropriately. This book does exactly that: It offers a pragmatic way to break down these communication barriers, and helps the reader frame the cybersecurity issues in the correct and appropriate way for their organization.
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Q: Tell us more about your services?
A: The best way to understand the broad spectrum of services that tmg-emedia offers, is to look at each one of the practices separately.
tmg-emedia is the strategic consulting practice. We engage with company leaders in addressing issues of technology strategy, management, and governance. The typical assignment has us partner with the company’s leadership in answering go-forward questions, business transformation questions, innovation questions, charting a new course, introducing the right governance frameworks, and establishing the necessary metrics to measure progress towards our goals.
Emedia, a woman-owned certified business, is our software development practice. Here, the president Anna Murray leads a team of architects and developers to design, build, run, and maintain complex transactional systems and apps. For example, we have systems that run the largest fund raising campaign in the country, another one that tracks inventory across three continents, and a third that manages the lifecycle of loan transactions. All the work is custom development and integration with existing systems, offering our clients unique competitive advantages by capturing their unique know-how and proprietary workflows.
Tmg, our managed services practice, has two divisions: Managed IT Services, where we handle all aspects of IT management: From CIO/CTO services to Systems and Network Management, to Help Desk; and Managed Cybersecurity Services, where we take care of all aspects of cybersecurity management–from CISO (Chief Information Security Officer), to security operations, and incident response. All our managed services are 24×7, staffed by hand-picked, certified professionals that have extensive experience in both technology and customer service. Our clients get the unique advantage of receiving a broad spectrum of IT and cybersecurity expertise, on a 24×7 basis, in one predictable and affordable monthly fee.
Q: How did you get to where you are today?
A: I founded the company 29 years ago this May on the premise that mid-market companies can neither afford, nor retain, top level consultancy expertise, especially in matters of technology. Yet, it is these same companies that are in most need of the expertise, and represent the driving force of employment and innovation in our country.
As I built the company from the ground up, I realized how important the human element was in integrating a successful technology solution to any company’s mission. I believe that because of my diverse educational background (Physics, Computers Science, and Math coupled with a passion and studies in psychology, organizational change, governance, and communications), I developed the “tmg-emedia” way of communicating with executives, explaining complex issues in business terms, and succeeding in effecting change where others could not.
Today, almost 30 years later, we are humbled by the trust of our client-partners, and honored to have contributed to their success. I like to say that every assignment has been a win-win for both, because we always learn from our clients as much as they learn from us. Still, all these years later, nothing excites us more than rolling up our sleeves and sitting around a table and tackling a client challenge together.
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Q: What’s next for tmg-emedia? Do you have plans to grow, expand or diversify?
A: From the day I founded the company I set a goal for ourselves: Be the best we can be, not the biggest. We didn’t want to grow up and “be IBM!” We wanted to grow up and be the kind of firm where people ask “Did you talk to tmg?” Our growth was, is, and will always be focused on that goal.
We have a natural double-digit growth rate that we’re happy with. We constantly reinvest by hiring by hiring the best people we can find. We are blessed that this has continued for decades, and we are taking all steps necessary for it to go on.
Our expansion and diversification is reflective of our ecosystem. For example, we were helping clients with cybersecurity management before “cyber” was in vogue. Today, we do the same with big data and machine learning. Tomorrow, we are looking at frameworks that can help businesses navigate privacy and cybersecurity.
