Top 4 Takeaways From the OT Group Fall 2022 Leadership Symposium

OT Group is excited to announce that its first ever leadership event, the Fall 2022 Leadership Symposium, was a huge success as business leaders from across Southern Ontario came together to discuss business growth. 

The event, which was held on September 22, 2022, at The Eddie Pec in Prince Edward County, saw more than 40 Ontario-based business leaders come together to learn about some of the top challenges, trends and hot topics impacting small to medium-sized businesses today. 

The open forum has been designed by OT Group to bring together local business leaders to discuss some of the issues they struggle with on a daily basis, and how technological transformation can help mitigate some of these challenges.

If you weren’t able to attend, in this blog we take a look at the top four takeaways from the event. We hope to see you there next time! 

As businesses store an increasing amount of data, have a growing number of attack vectors and build IT infrastructures that support hybrid workplaces, they become increasingly more at risk of cyber risk such as phishing, hackings and other malicious threats.

In fact, according to Statistics Canada, just under one-fifth (18 percent) of Canadian businesses were impacted by cyber security incidents in 2021. Despite increased risk of cyber risk, this was actually down on 2020 numbers as businesses invested more of their budget into cybersecurity solutions.

The study found that the amount of money Canadian businesses spent to detect or prevent cyber security incidents increased by roughly $2.8 billion in 2021 to $9.7 billion when compared with 2019. 

As risks increase, cybersecurity solutions are becoming increasingly top of mind. That’s why at the Fall 2022 Leadership Symposium we discussed how business leaders can identify and understand threats (such as social engineering and email-based attacks), as well as how they can implement best practices and education to reduce company risk.

Interested in learning more about enhancing your company’s cybersecurity? Check out our blog, Small Business Cybersecurity: What You Need to Know.

Whether your business calls it the remote workforce, a hybrid work model, the distributed workforce or work-from-anywhere, there’s no doubt that modern businesses need an IT infrastructure that supports both in-office and remote workers.

Technology needs of modern businesses are changing at a rate that we’ve never seen before. The rapid evolution of hybrid workforces and connected devices mean businesses need to be more flexible and responsive to employees’ needs than we’ve ever seen. 

To ensure Ontario-based businesses can keep their team connected and empower their employees to be productive, in the 2022 Fall Symposium we discussed some of the top tools that can be deployed. 

If you missed it, you can find some tips on our blog - Work From Anywhere: What Equipment Do Employees Need to Work Remotely? 

The Leadership Symposium wasn’t just about technology, and perhaps the most topical discussion was around human resources and the growing complexity that it brings to small and medium-sized organizations.

In fact, many leaders of small and medium-sized businesses at the Symposium said that they struggle to keep up with the ever-evolving landscape in the HR field. 

During the HR session, we discussed some of the top trends in the industry right now (such as Bill 27 The Right to Disconnect, and Bill 88 the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Acts), as well as giving the opportunity for all attendees to connect with leaders and experts in the human resources industry.

Last but no least, the Symposium was not only educational for business leaders - it was also fun! We had delicious tacos and Indian street food, but, most importantly, the event gave us the opportunity to bring like-minded individuals together in a social environment that gave everyone the networking opportunities that we’ve been missing for the last couple of years.

Are you interested in learning more about OT Group’s Leadership Symposium, or would like to discuss any of the issues and opportunities brought up during the event? Get in touch with our team today. We would love to hear from you.