Nothing is permanent, including the ways of doing business. Situations change, and needs evolve over time as technology advances. The way people live today is not how they lived in the past. The advent of technology has changed our lifestyle. Everyone is surrounded by innovations, which have influenced almost every aspect of life. Technology has improved everything, including how people travel, how they communicate, how they learn, and how they do business. Gone are the days when businesses were dependent on traditional marketing, which was costly and came with uneven results. Digitalization has embraced digital marketing, reduced costs, and improved results. Businesses know technology can accelerate their operations while reducing costs and boost productivity. Nowadays, businesses rely on innovative strategies that help them spread the business message to the masses and enables them to boost revenue. However, where there are advantages, disadvantages also exist, threatening to disrupt our business activities. In the Information Age, businesses and individuals are at high risk of becoming victims of cyberattacks, even more as the digital world moves into the Metaverse.
Consequently, companies can lose their Intellectual Property (IP) or have their reputations damaged, creating even larger losses. The more companies embrace technology, the more reliant and exposed they become. Fortunately, companies have life saviors that help them embrace technology and help mitigate their cyber risk. When it comes to advising the board or the technologist in the field, one prominent example comes from Alex Sharpe – an American cybersecurity and risk management practitioner.
Sharpe enjoys helping organizations integrate cyber into their traditional governance and risk management practices. Historically, cyber has been treated as a technology problem handled by IT. Being treated like an IT problem, cyber was often not aligned with business objectives, and when there was an incident, it was often the people or process dimensions that failed. Making this mental shift is hard. Going through this transformation is fraught with uncertainty—engaging outside advisors who have previously removed the uncertainty and helped people avoid the land mines.
There are numerous reasons that a business needs to update its working culture and automate overall operations. The use of technology boosts the company’s gains in productivity and revenue. It not only improves the nature of work but also evolves the workforce. Digital transformation and technology enable businesses to go to the next level of success. Technology unlocks business value and aligns the overall process of the company.
Technology and digital transformation are two major concerns of businesses nowadays. A company cannot give its competition a run for its money without embracing proper technology. No business can grow exponentially without ensuring a digital persona. Companies that embrace innovations and grow in the digital landscape tend to generate more revenue with a higher margin than those that don’t. Therefore, every company needs professional consultancy to grow in the digital landscape, improve productivity, ensure robust cybersecurity, and unlock business values. Alex Sharpe provides consultancy services to his clients in various manners.
Born in New Jersey, Alex Sharpe is an American business strategist with deep experience in risk management and cybersecurity. His company, Sharpe Management Consulting LLC, helps companies unlock value by embracing contemporary technologies (Digital Transformation), protecting their competitive advantage (cybersecurity), managing their complex programs, and their inorganic growth strategies through Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). Mr. Sharpe is one of the few people who has managed a P&L and has a deep background in cyber.
Companies are always looking for new revenue sources, strengthening their competitive advantage, and reducing costs by becoming more efficient through automation. Sharpe likes to remind his clients that all human productivity is driven by technology. He also likes to remind his clients that unlocking that value requires evolving business models and governance programs. Technology affords an opportunity. The value comes from the people and process you wrap around it.
The average business must manage about 100 different risks. Cyber is unique in that it is the only risk that can affect all of the rest. Cyber also has the scary quality of having the most potential impact on intangible assets like your brand and reputation.
Sharpe has more than three decades of a profound experience in privacy and cybersecurity with real-world operational experience. He has delivered to clients in almost thirty countries on every continent except Antarctica. Throughout his career, he has helped corporations and government agencies reap the rewards afforded by technology while managing their cyber risk. This provides him with a great understanding of the balance between cybersecurity, operational effectiveness, and business realities.
Alex Sharpe is also a member of the board of BWG Strategy. He attended the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), earning his BSEE concentrating in Computer Engineering with minors in Math, and Computer Science in 1986. Then, he attended Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in 1995 to secure his Master’s in Program/Project Management, Operations Management, and Systems Engineering. Sharpe’s profound experience and talent won him two merit awards from the Columbia Business School in 2018.
Alex Sharpe began his professional career at the National Security Agency (NSA) in 1986. He moved into the management consulting ranks, where he built practices at Booz Allen and KPMG. After gaining profound experience in business strategy and corporate governance, Sharpe co-founded two firms, including the Hackett Group, where he ran the eBusiness P&L for the firm, and eForce as the Vice President of Global Operations. He subsequently went out on his own advising boards and senior executive on business strategy, cyber risk, complex program management, and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). Throughout his career, Alex regularly works with regulators, industry bodies, and standards organizations like the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), ISACA, InfraGard, Global Resilience Federation (GRF), the Global Digital Currency and Asset Association (Global DCA), the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), NIST and ISO.
