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Webcor is proud to have won the 2020 CIO Magazine/OpenText Information Champion Award in the Cyber Resiliency category. Such a recognition is an honor for a company within any industry, but for a construction company, it's nearly unheard of.

"The construction industry as a whole is usually at the top of the list of the most insecure organizations, leaving them open to security issues, attacks, and other problems," says Webcor's IT Security Director, Jay C. Grant.  

Digital security firm RSI defines cyber resiliency as "the ability of an organization to prepare, respond, and recover when cyber attacks happen. An organization has cyber resilience if it can defend itself against these attacks, limit the effects of a security incident, and guarantee the continuity of its operation during and after the attacks."

Panel of Experts Judged Entries

The CIO Magazine/OpenText awards were judged by a panel of industry experts who short-listed Webcor, then announced the company had won.

Webcor stands out from other general contractors because a focus on resiliency comes from the top.

"You have to have an executive who gets it, wants to deliver it, has bought into the process, is able to sell it up to executives, and who provides those who work for her everything they need to deliver on it," Jay says, speaking of Kim Bates, Webcor's chief information officer. "You don't achieve cyber resiliency without a leader who does all of this."

The process of establishing cyber resiliency begins with an overarching goal.

"What is the strategic focus?" Jay asks. "The team delivers an infrastructure that functions quickly and gives our customers -- Webcor employees -- what they need and does so in a secure fashion. The department management trusts the staff to have bold ideas and craft innovative solutions for the Webcor community."

Small Team, Big Results

Jay also notes that the recognition would not have been possible without the entire IT team.

"It's smaller than in big companies, but the team functions like a larger enterprise does. A lot of the technology team members have multiple proficiencies and capabilities; they have a primary job but also have secondary and tertiary positions they cover depending on the need, the process involved, or the service we're delivering."

The award will be spotlighted at OpenText World in late October with a short video, a trophy, and more. OpenText, one of Webcor's technology service providers, recommended Webcor for the award.

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