Providence Consulting
Securing the Pathway to the Cloud

In today’s world filled with technology, cybersecurity is of paramount importance. Organizations of all sizes need to have a solid understanding of their IT security needs. Providence Consulting specializes in helping organizations keep their data free from privacy infringement and security hacks. Providence’s goal is explained by CEO Jeff Dettloff, “We work to put our clients on the path to technologies that are going to help them become more productive and stay secure.”

Dettloff started Providence in 2003 after Microsoft released Small Business Server 2003 and Office 2003, which were major rewrites of their server operating system and desktop productivity tools. The time was right to launch a new consulting business to guide people on how to best use these tools. Since its launch, the company has grown and added managed services to its portfolio. “The security focus has been present since the beginning, but has become much more prominent in the past three years,” says Dettloff.

As a CompTIA Security Trustmark holder, data protection and cybersecurity flow through all of Providence’s internal processes and service offerings. For this reason, they chose to partner with the best endpoint security firm in the industry! Providence evaluated and selected Symantec as their security partner more than 10 years ago and manages Symantec Endpoint Protection installations on over 1,200 devices.

Providence also provides complete and ongoing security awareness training for end users. They also guide and train customers on how to create passwords that are unique, strong, and stored securely. “This may sound simple, but it’s not,” says Dettloff. “Users have many years of bad password usage habits that need to be broken and replaced.”

Among their other offerings are Providence’s MS Office 365 Cloud solutions. They provide enhancements once email is on the cloud, including securing and encrypting emails, mobile device management, and installing any required desktop software. Box is another key offering and functions as their primary content collaboration platform, providing clients a secure login and access to data anywhere, anytime, from any device.

Two critical security areas Providence focuses on are security awareness training and password hygiene/ management

Both offerings are critical for organizations with a mobile workforce. The firm also fully supports everything they sell, with a help desk, managed service offerings, and remote support on every end-point.

Providence sets itself apart from the competition because they recognize the importance of people skills. They realize that they are not just dealing with technology, but also the user. Providence puts every employee through the Dale Carnegie program during their first year of employment because, as Dettloff puts it, “It is critically important for our employees to understand how to communicate with the user on the other end of the phone or email.”

In fact, communicating with the user is one of the core values Providence holds at the center of their operations. These core values also include achieving results and ensuring each employee takes ownership of the projects they are working on. The key is to instill these core values in the minds of their employees so they become part of their day-to-day activities.

In the coming year, Providence plans to expand geographically. They started their operations on a local level and grew to become a regional service provider. Now, they have the remote services, communication tools, and intellectual property around implementing projects to be able to conduct implementations and trainings for people no matter where they are located. “With a freshly upgraded, more mobile-friendly website, we are also working on marketing initiatives around Box as the best collaboration platform for small businesses,” concludes Dettloff.