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The IT sector in Tampa, from managing complicated systems to lockdown-tight cybersecurity, is a scorcher — both for growth in customers and an urgent need for employees.
Tampa-based Cyber Risk Management is one of several firms to recently seize an opportunity to grow. The firm acquired Bethesda, Md.-based Aptec, which specializes in IT services for password-protected entry points of a company's data systems. In cyber security lingo, it's called identity and access management.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Aptec, with 40 employees and multiple Fortune 1000 clients, from health care to manufacturing companies, will become a Cyber Risk Management subsidiary. “This is a transformative deal for us,” Cyber Risk Management CEO Yong-Gon Chon tells Coffee Talk, mostly because it opens up new markets for the firm.
Other subsidiaries under CRM include Tampa-based Sunera, which focuses on data breaches and cyber security protection software and programs. And Chon says CRM is continuing to look for other acquisitions, given what he calls a fast-growing demand for sophisticated data risk management services nationwide. “We are not done yet, not by any stretch of the imagination,” he says. “We will continue to invest.”
Another company in investment mode is Tampa-based SunView Software, with a concentration in products that help businesses track and manage internal IT help desks. Founded in 2003, SunView recently announced it would expand its headquarters in Hillsborough County, an investment of more than $1 million, to accommodate up to 45 new employees. Jobs include software developers, support and sales and marketing.
A statement from the Hillsborough County Economic Development Corp. on SunView's announcement notes the fevered state of the area IT industry. Tampa and Hillsborough County are home to more than 20% of the IT positions statewide, for example. And the list of other IT firms in Hillsborough County that have expanded recently is deep and includes some prominent names, such as Accusoft, BlueGrace Logistics, ConnectWise and Tribridge, the EDC points out.
That brings the trend to finding and retaining top employees. At CRM, like many of its peers, it's the constant battle. “Everyone is looking for talented people to protect data and privacy,” Chon says. “Our biggest issues are staff constraints, not sales constraints.”
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