For Over 30 Years, Mathe Has Helped Clients Stay Ahead Of The Technology Curve
The Mathe team is thrilled to be celebrating their 31st anniversary in business this year. Their more than three decades of experience serving Morris county business-owners has allowed Mathe to develop a range of critical IT services which are even more necessary given today’s cyber threat landscape.
“We started out thirty years ago realizing that this industry is ever-changing,” says Mark Hicks, Mathe’s President. “We continue to evolve, and we always try to look ahead to what technology could be in the future and our client’s growing needs.”
By both witnessing and anticipating the way data reliance, security and continuity have changed since the ‘90s, Mathe has developed a range of services that help their Morris county clients gain confidence in how their data is stored, accessed, and protected.
“Obviously, the speed of business and the reliance on data has escalated over the last thirty years,” says Mark.
A given business’s dependence on technology back then is a far cry from what it is today. Mark recalls how small a role technology once played in client’s day-to-day lives thirty-one years ago. For example, a client of Mathe’s was using an old Lotus-based email service, which was such a small part of their operation that no one noticed when it went down.
“Their email was down for two weeks, and nobody knew it, because they didn’t receive that much email,” says Mark.
Compare that to the modern age of business technology. A few minutes of email downtime can bring a business’ operations to a halt.
“Now if your email is down for twenty minutes, people are freaking out,” says Mark. “Companies, more than ever, rely on their data for both internal operations as well as meeting their client’s needs.”
Recognizing how crucial data continuity was becoming, Mathe invested in more extensive Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity capabilities. However, being somewhat ahead of the curve, this service didn’t immediately gain much interest from clients. At the time, most businesses were still relying on analog data management systems.
“Thirty years ago, most businesses were based on paper records; filing cabinets were a huge part of a business environment,” says Mark.
As technology evolved and the industry changed, businesses became more and more dependent on data-based processes. They needed to be able to access their data easily, but at the same time, they needed to be confident it was kept secure.
“The world has changed in the past thirty years,” says Art Artiles, Partner at Mathe. “Technology has changed, but so has the use of it, both good and bad. It is critically important for people to be aware of the threats and to take steps to protect themselves.”
Today, data security is a key priority for businesses of all sizes. A range of services offered by Mathe helps clients to maintain their cybersecurity, and they expect this to become ever more important in the future.
Informed by over thirty years of experience in the industry, the Mathe team expects data security and integrity to become a more critical priority for businesses in the coming years. However, the Mathe team notes that, currently, business owners likely don’t understand just how big of a role they play in the security of their clients’ and employees’ private data.
“In many cases, businesses haven’t fully embraced their responsibility as the custodian of data, and what liabilities that brings to the table that they haven’t considered,” says Gary Schwartz, vCIO, Mathe.
As businesses become more and more aware of their responsibilities in terms of data security, they’ll steadily move towards data storage solutions with great visibility and more confident security, such as the private cloud. They will continually seek any solution or arrangement that further reduces their risk and liability.
In the meantime, the Mathe team is proud to have stayed ahead of the curve as the industry has evolved over the past thirty-one years. Their goal today is the same as it was back then: to provide personal and informed guidance that helps their clients achieve productive and secure IT environments.
“When I started thirty years ago, my promise to myself was if there ever came a day where I didn’t want to go and do what I do for a living, I would not,”’ says Mark. “I still like what I do a lot. I enjoy working with our clients — everyone on our team does.“
With over 35 years in the business of supporting and implementing technology for the SME market, and 6 years previously in Corporate IT and Voice. I have seen a great deal of change. The only common thread is I have always focused on the Business Wise application of Technology. We always try to look 5 years ahead of the current technology to make sure our clients are on the right track to meet current and future needs.
