As we begin our seventeenth year in business, I find myself contemplating "The Next Act". Hindsight is always 20/20, so let's take a look back:
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"The Cloud" was a fuzzy, gray area that many small businesses assumed was a fad, never to affect them. Paying a subscription for software was once an impossible proposition that most small businesses refused to consider. Today the cloud is a transparent part of everyday life in business. The last holdouts are only now boldly declaring that they must "get to The Cloud!" Business software subscriptions are now accepted as just another expense. The great cloud migration is over, and if you missed it or still don't get it, you're on the way out of business or already gone.
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"Systems", the hardware that runs servers and facilitated the great migration to the cloud, with their whirring fans and air conditioning requirements, were an ever-present reminder of the potential for failure. Today, they are the man behind the curtain, like in the Wizard of Oz. They're still there, somewhere, just not necessarily in a room in your office building. Even your work computer is often not just on your desk any more. Hardware for work is mostly gone or hidden, with most of your computing power located far away from you, like in the NetFu Cloud.
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"Data Security" was threatened by a determined hacker in a dark room, a loner with a script in a third world country, or a disgruntled ex-employee emailing salary spreadsheets directly to employees via company email, and the government was sadly unaware. Today, the threat is from organized mob-hackers for hire, foreign governments, and we have the CISA making IT recommendations to business based on daily events. Data Security is more challenging than ever.
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"Outsourcing" your IT or Accounting work to someone outside your company was "bad" or only for big companies with lots of money. I once had to convince companies that this was better for everyone. I had to haggle over details and pricing. Today we're called Gig Workers. Up to 30% of all U.S. workers now work the same as we always have at NetFu. The move to outsource company work to gig workers or companies like NetFu is now an accepted part of doing business, from small companies all the way up to Federal government laws.
So, our focus is now less on simple hardware systems, legacy cloud migration, and general IT support. Of course, all our customers who depend on our systems, our cloud, or our IT people can rest assured that we're still doing the work they depend on us for, as we have for over sixteen years. Data security, as always, remains a primary focus.
Our objective going forward is on AI engineering and its uses in data security, cloud apps & services, data analysis, and machine learning in these areas. This work includes network/data security automation, SaaS customization, business data analysis, and ways that AI can adapt for specific applications and scenarios.
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