You don’t know what you don’t know. And when that’s the case, you should probably find someone who does.

It’s a lesson that Mike Cameron-Davies is keen to stress when we talk to him about his membership of the SW cyber resilience centre. Mike runs MCDBT, a Stroud-based business transformation consultancy which provides CEO’s and COO’s with additional bandwidth to enable to them to move operations to the next level. He’s sector-agnostic, and with a background in transformation for blue-chip businesses, he prides himself on supporting smaller organisations with the skills and experience that enable them to hand off key leadership projects.

It was about three years ago that Mike set up his business, and as he told us, “When you set up your own business, there are lots of things that you need to know. Cyber security is obviously something that every business needs to take seriously. I needed to do something but didn’t know what, and then the answer presented itself: the South West Cyber Resilience Centre. I’ve worked in lots of businesses before but they all had their own heads of IT, and suddenly I was running things, and it was down to me to know and do something myself. The CRC absolutely covered those bases.

Cyber Security for SMEs

“The 12 week programme was just what I needed to bring me up to speed. It’s as good as you can get for a one-size-fits-all. And the emails that you send out, saying ‘these are the threats at the moment’ and the webinar sessions that you run, they’ve really plugged that knowledge gap for me. The CRC keeps me in tune with things, even though I’m not a cyber expert, and it’s generally to you that I’d come for a source of information.

“You easily facilitate the next steps too, which I like... you can pick and choose. You can also link me into paid stuff if needs be, and it's there when I need it. Why would you not tap into someone who does know?

“As much as anything, it’s the human and approachable face that the CRC brings that I’ve appreciated. You bridge the gap between me and the experts. I wouldn’t have any hesitation in making contact to ask for help, and I think you find some great people for me to learn from, especially when cyber can be such a dry subject. I would absolutely recommend the centre to other people, as an excellent single touch point for everything cyber.”

As Mike continues his work supporting businesses in our region, we’re delighted that we can continue to support him too. If you don’t know where you’re going to find management capacity for that transformative project, then Mike’s keen to step up and help. But if you don’t know about cyber, then it’s reassuring to hear that some of our business experts regard us as the go-to source. We provide cyber security for SMEs through our partnerships and student services. You can find out more about the support that we’re offering to Mike and around a thousand other regional businesses, at www.swcrc.co.uk.