Awee was created to help the world avoid Cyber threats. Our mission is to put the right educational tools in the hands of individuals, companies, governments, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, etc. to make them safer.
Tell us about yourself?
I am a successful Cybersecurity professional with 29 years of technical experience and a broad base of influential contacts in the information technology and telecommunications industry. A dynamic and creative consultant and trainer with a proven track record in building relationships, delivering Cybersecurity training, and deploying complex solutions in the private enterprise and public sectors.
I just love the challenges of working with different customers to help them solve some of today’s Cybersecurity problems.
Technology is complex, but we do not really take the time to explain to users how to use it properly or what the risks are. So, Cybersecurity has a “human behaviour” problem, and I want to help solve it!
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Do not be afraid to make mistakes! Mistakes are helping you grow.
What problem does your business solve?
At Awee, we believe passionately that the current approach to Cybersecurity education simply does not work. Individuals are bored, they aimlessly click through content while doing other things, and even if they “pass” the few questions at the end of a module, they do not retain what they have learned! Awee’s approach is to execute a new training formula that truly engages learners in the educational experience, making them, their families, and the organizations they work for more adept at identifying and avoiding Cyber-threats
What is the inspiration behind your business?
95 per cent of Cyber breaches involve human error. This is despite the billions of dollars spent globally on Cybersecurity infrastructure and technology. We want to help users secure themselves.
What is your magic sauce?
At Awee, we LOVE this question. Awee is bringing to market a new formula for Cybersecurity education. Each of these components has been selected through a methodical development process that involved the Human Behavioral Psychology Department at the University of Laval in Quebec City. Ultimately, the goal is to engage learners in an educational experience that captures not only their head and hands but also their hearts! When people truly believe that there is something in the experience for them, you get their undivided attention, and they are focused on delivering their very best effort. Awee’s magic sauce is made up of a downloadable App that includes the following:
- Gamification to help individuals learn by doing.
- Reward & Recognition so that individuals see that there is something in it for them to consume content and demonstrate real proficiency.
- Culturally agnostic animated videos developed with a world-class animation studio so our content can be presented and consumed by any audience around the world.
- Use of a Cyberscore that provides deep analytical insights into the Human Behavioral risk profile of an individual, their team, location, division, school, region, or enterprise, etc.
- Tips and tricks to allow individuals to drill down into a topic of choice and develop a deeper understanding of the issues involved.
- Provide licensees with the ability to upload content if they choose, either for just their organization or for the Awee ecosystem of clients and partners to use as well.
- Engage learners in an ongoing training cadence throughout the year that always keeps Cybersecurity awareness top of mind.
- With an ongoing training cadence, new content to address emerging threats can be released to Awee users in real-time and consumed ASAP to avoid new cyber threats.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Awee wants to become the global leader in the Cybersecurity threat identification and avoidance training marketplace! From the testing of the Beta release of our App through the ongoing development of our platform, we are committed to a collaborative relationship with our user community. It is one thing to have a vision, but like the old saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”, it takes a committed user community in partnership with the visionary solution provider to build a resilient solution that meets customers where they are today and solves both current and future problems.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Like many entrepreneurs, gaining access to capital during the early stages of development is a real challenge. Most startups do not survive the first year, and we are proud of the fact that we are growing and evolving at the three-year mark in our evolution. Our success to date has been the product of closely watching our burn rate, making strategic investments in conferences that really make a difference in the marketing, and making good early-stage hires at all positions in the company. With a committed group of like-minded people who are passionate about what we are doing, you can move mountains!
How can people get involved?
People can get involved in a number of ways. Firstly, if they have a passion for Cybersecurity education and want to help bring a revolutionary product to market, we would love to hear from them. We are always looking for good people to augment our team during these early days of our growth.
If you are an insurer, law firm or global consulting company and want to become a partner, reach out to David Monroe, EVP & CRO, at david.monroe@awee.ca and introduce yourself. David will engage with you to explore how we might be able to work together.
Lastly, if you want to learn more about Awee, you can find us at www.awee.ca.