5 Questions With: Todd Jennings, Clearview Group CTO

What is the role of the CTO at Clearview?

My job is pretty simple: to help our clients succeed, whatever that means to them. As CTO, my primary responsibility is as the leader of our Cyber and IT Services, and as the subject matter expert in issues like cybersecurity, technology strategies, IoT, operations, data backup and disaster recovery, cloud solutions, VoIP - technology is always changing, but if we can show our clients value, and help them accomplish their goals, they’ll be clients of Clearview for a long time.

If there’s one key differentiator that companies can count on by working with Clearview, what would you say that is?

The biggest difference that I’ve seen, and that has me very excited about joining Clearview, is our ability to not only plan and strategize, but to also execute. So many technology advisory firms spend a lot of time creating this technology roadmap, only to leave the client high and dry when it comes to execution. I plan on helping our clients create a plan of attack, but also leading the execution of their IT projects, either in tandem with their in-house IT team or in some cases serving AS their in-house IT team. Either way, our clients get the expertise they need to focus on growing their company.

What do you see as the biggest need/threat/topic that companies need to be taking action on today as it relates to their technology?

When you work in technology, the only guarantee is that change will be constant; there’s never just one thing. The one area that has always been a major area of concern, but is just now making its way onto the CEO’s top 10 list is Backup and Disaster Recovery. If you lost your data today - your customer records, project files, financial data, operations software, you name it - could you recover all that data, and if so, how long would it take you to be back up and running? How much money would you lose, and how much customer trust would evaporate when things grind to a screeching halt? The question you have to ask yourself isn’t just could you recover the data - but would you miss all of your client deadlines if it happened, and if you miss those deadlines, do your clients come back, or do they go somewhere else?

What types of clients does Clearview support? Is there a particular size, industry, geographic location?

We work with clients of all sizes, in various industries, and all across the United States. The most common thread I see across our client base is organizations that have to be compliant with some level of regulations about their customer’s information or data, be that health, financial, or otherwise. It’s great to see private companies take a more proactive approach with their technology infrastructure, but a lot of times the catalyst is some regulatory body that governs the way they do business. We help them create a plan, execute, document, and maintain a compliant technology platform that will help their business grow.

If there is such a thing: what does a typical first project look like for companies that hire Clearview Group?

Every engagement we have started with a small project, and that’s the way we like it. We want to come in, solve a specific problem for you, show you how we work, how we deliver, and how we think. We know that when we do a great job on that project, you’re going to ask us to help with other issues you’re having. At the end of the day, that’s all we want to do - solve our client’s technology problems so they can focus on growing their business.