Lack of talent tugs at growing tech firm
Detroit News
Neal Haldane / Special to The Detroit News
TROY, MI, July 11, 2007
Steve Barone wants to hire 13 new employees for his information technology firm Creative Breakthroughs Inc.
But qualified candidates have either disappeared or moved away from Michigan.
"That's the most frustrating part of my job," said Barone, who founded the firm in 1991. "We've having trouble in Detroit finding talent for high-level technical positions. Here we are in an economy that desperately needs these positions, but we can't find the talent."
The company plans to hold a job fair Friday in Troy and open an office in Columbus, Ohio, to scout talent and expand its service area.
CBI has grown to a $16-million company with 47 employees and a new office in Troy by providing network security, integration and IT management to organizations that range from Nationwide Insurance to T-Mobile to the U.S. Army through its relationships with Symantec, Microsoft, Juniper, Citrix, NetApp, Imprivata and other technology providers.
Member Driven Technologies partnered with CBI a couple years ago to check for vulnerability and penetration of the networks operated by its owners, seven credit unions in Michigan.
That worked out so well, the Warren-based company now has CBI on retainer to help resolve security issues such as phishing, where crooks masquerade as legitimate companies to obtain passwords and other personal information, said Scott Johnston, executive vice president for the credit union service organization.
"Everyone preaches customer service, but few deliver," Johnston said. "These guys are quick to respond and are a pleasure to work with."
Handling security issues for clients represents 38 percent of the business at CBI, Barone said. And that area remains a concern, according to Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company.
By the end of this year, Gartner predicts 75 percent of enterprises will be infected with undetected malware, software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system, because security processes and technologies have not kept up with the criminals.
"Security is a ridiculously ongoing process," Barone said. "There's not a network yet that you can't get into."
Another issue that crops up is unauthorized software on company computers. CBI can discover unlicensed software and either remove it or make the firm compliant, he said.
The Business Software Alliance, the voice of the commercial software industry, recently settled with several manufacturing firms, including one from Michigan, that agreed to pay $1.43 million in damages for having unlicensed copies of software on their systems.
"You are only one rogue employee's phone call away from being called on it," he said about the BSA, which acts on tips.
Staffing and training brings in another 28 percent of CBI revenues, and Barone expects this area to experience aggressive growth for the next 24 months.
Network monitoring and management along with consulting constitute the remaining portions of CBI's business. Barone expects CBI will reach $19 million in sales by the end of 2007.
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