We at "Alcala Consulting" are constantly looking for new, innovative, and "user-friendly" ways to make the "World of Technology" less intimidating for our clients and potential clients. Ultimately, we pride ourselves in being available to lift the "Technological Burden" off of business owners. But certainly, it helps you, as a business owner, to have a little "IT" knowledge in the brain as well.
We know this...and yet we fight it. Recently, we held a "Lunch and Learn" seminar here at our offices on the subject of Cyber Security. A hot-button subject, no doubt; we expected a high attendance.
And yet, we met with resistance. The reason? Most potential attendees did not want to know about the "cyber security risks." They preferred the familiarity of their heads in the sand, rather than being shoved just a little out of their comfort zone.
We've explored this phenomenon just a little and discovered some very interesting facts...
Certainly, if there is a desire to learn, anyone can learn anything. But fear can be very paralyzing and can easily overwhelm the desire to learn. So, from a purely marketing standpoint, Internet Technology has to somehow be made more attractive to the masses. People need to ascertain a specific value in Internet Technology that is explainable to overcome the reluctance. Here's an example...
Before last year, I prided myself in at least, knowing how to turn on a computer! Well, I actually knew more than that, but was really just skidding by on the basics. Actually getting down to the nitty gritty of "IT" did intimidate me. I can't explain why...but I think it had a lot to do with confidence in my abilities to learn all of this. I felt it was over my head...an unfair judgement, since really, I hadn't even tried to learn.
And then, I was hired here as the Marketing and PR Consultant for "Alcala Consulting." My back was against the wall. To do an excellent job (nothing else is acceptable in my book) I had to learn about this business. And, much to my amazement, it wasn't over my head...and even more amazing...it was really interesting!
So, the ingredients were there-a desire to learn, and a need to overcome the fear of learning. The result? I have taken several classes, and conduct research all the time to learn more. I'm certainly not an expert. But I am 100% more knowledgeable in the field of Internet Technology than I was five months ago. And, in this scary world of identity thefts and hacking I feel better having learned some information and putting myself in a position to learn more.
It is in our own best interest to educate ourselves in the field of "Internet Technology." 
This field is growing so fast, even lawmakers cannot keep up with it to regulate it. Therefore, it is truly up to us, at least for the time being, to be our own cyber"watchdogs", educate ourselves and protect ourselves. Without each and every one of us taking that responsibility, the world of Internet Technology will remain the "Wild Wild West"...dangerous, scary and intimidating.
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