Talking tech and business with James Caan and Symantec

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The new series of Dragon’s Den started last night. Sadly for IT Pro, our favourite Dragon had retired before the start of the ninth series.

James Caan decided to leave the show for unconfirmed reasons but has continued handing out advice on how to run a business, whilst running private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw.

Just last month, Caan hooked up with Symantec to talk about risk and security in SMBs, answering questions over Twitter. We wanted more than just 140 characters from the former Dragon though, so we interviewed him alongside Symantec’s small business expert Ross Walker to talk about technology, business and security.

Has technology made it easier than ever for a start-up to get going?

James Caan: Due to advancing technology and the growth of the online industry - which creates an estimated £100 billion in turnover each year - it is now even easier to set up your own business.

Tools such as ‘Companies House’ online portal, virtual offices with a rented address, mobile technology such as iPads, apps and cloud computing have all contributed to making it easier and more efficient to start a company and access information faster.

Ross Walker: Yes, with the falling cost of computing along with the increased availability of cloud based applications, there has never been a more cost effective time to start a business, from a technology point of view.

My private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw uses cloud computing and I’m still amazed how efficient the system is.

However, when taking advantage of these money-saving technologies, entrepreneurs must remember the key fundamentals of data management. They need to protect their data, keep track of who in the company has access to it as well as what machines, devices, mobiles or tablets it resides on and consider whether it can be recovered in the event of an outage, loss or theft.

Has cloud computing changed the business landscape by making things that much cheaper?

James: It has changed the landscape quite significantly. Companies no longer need to have large bulky archives with all their databases written on papers. Cloud computing enables all this information to be stored online in a digital format, with little limitations on size.

What’s also very important is that cloud computing enables information and data access anywhere in the world, as long as there is an internet connection. My private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw uses cloud computing and I’m still amazed how efficient the system is.

I was recently abroad and I wanted to show my colleague some fairly large documents. I was able to access the files and information within minutes. Of course there is a risk with cloud computing, but security is high on the agenda for cloud computing companies. They are continuously updating their processes for user security.

Ross: Many onsite premise license vendors, whether they are applications, services or physical machines, are starting to offer a cloud/utility based model. This will, in time, deliver cost predictability to start-ups by providing the flexibility and elasticity to meet their demands and benefit their cash flows, based on usage.

In your experience, do start-ups consider security enough of an issue when starting out? How much of a priority should it be?

James: I think all companies, not just start-ups, aren’t doing enough for their business information security. In the case of small businesses this may be down to the perception that they aren’t in a high risk position.

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