North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 707)
Michael Caralis, Vice President at Verizon Business Markets, was the guest on this episode of North Fulton Business Radio with host John Ray to discuss cybersecurity threats to small business. Michael described the current top cybersecurity threats he’s seeing, ways business can protect their data with limited resources, the scope of the problem, his recommendations, resources which Verizon offers, success stories, and much more.
North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Verizon
Verizon Communications was formed on June 30, 2000, and is one of the world’s leading providers of technology and communications services.
Headquartered in New York City and with a presence around the world, Verizon generated revenues of $133.6 billion in 2021. The company offers voice, data and video services and solutions on its award-winning networks and platforms, delivering on customers’ demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity, security and control.
Verizon Business Markets provides the best Broadband, Voice, and Mobile products, solutions and services in support of America’s growing Small & Medium Business community. Verizon Fios uses powerful fiber-optic network technology to deliver fast and reliable internet to help you run your business.
Fios technology is flexible enough to support businesses of all sizes with a wide range of Internet, TV and Phone packages based on your needs. Verizon also offers reliable mobile phone service plans to businesses that signup with 5 or more lines.
Michael Caralis, Vice President, Verizon Business Markets, Verizon
As Vice President of Verizon Business Markets, Michael leads three critical business units for small and midsize business customers: network as a service (NaaS), Fios for Business and Verizon’s channel program. His team of 1,200+ professionals partner with customers on their digital transformation journeys, providing innovative managed solutions for total communications, connectivity, collaboration and security.
Verizon’s customer-centric organization delivers 5G technologies, fiber, ethernet, security solutions, and unified communications solutions such as BlueJeans conferencing, One Talk (voiceover IP solution) and Microsoft Teams. As businesses across all segments and industries anticipate a post-pandemic comeback, they are looking to adopt 5G and its potential to create new opportunities and build new efficiencies and scale their businesses. Their team also provides Fios for Business, business digital voice, and easy to deploy and use set of security and collaboration products.
Prior to this, Michael served as Executive Director of Solution Architect and Engineering. In that role, his team was focused on the transformation of our technical teams, providing the best-integrated solution designs and managed services, including broadband, security and collaboration platforms. Earlier in his career, he served public sector customers at Verizon for four years. Last year, his team delivered critical services and technology to aid in the pandemic response and enable remote learning for students.
Previously, he served as the Director of Marketing and Operations for Verizon Wireless and partnered with Apple, Google and Samsung to enable a frictionless customer experience in deploying new technology and applications. As a result, Verizon was the first carrier in the world to launch Apple Business Manager, an iconic solution. Later, he led a team that launched Android zero-touch and Samsung Knox Mobile Enrollment. Prior to Verizon, he worked in various sales roles at Nextel and Sprint.
Michael thrives on solving the most complex business problems in today’s data-rich and tech-heavy environment while leading groundbreaking transformations and aligning large-team operations to the strategic vision. He strives to be the most objective voice in a room and believe in authentic leadership.
Michael is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, where everyone is heard and they take pride in serving their customers.
Questions and Topics in this Interview:
- What do you see as the top cybersecurity threats affecting SMBs?
- What do you recommend SMBs do to address security/cybersecurity threats beyond the basics?
- What are you hearing from SMBs in terms of how they perceive and how they are addressing security/cybersecurity threats?
- With limited resources, what are the three most important things SMBs can do to better protect their data?
- Why is the data security problem for SMBs so big?
- Any other new data points or insights you’d like to share?
North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
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