In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the management of data across vast and complex environments is a paramount concern for businesses. At the heart of this transformation is AvePoint, a company trusted worldwide for robust data management and security. In an illuminating conversation with Max McNamara, Vice President and Managing Director for ANZ at AvePoint, revealed powerful insights into how AvePoint is not just navigating but also shaping the future of data management and protection.
AvePoint, as McNamara adeptly describes, empowers organisations to secure and manage their entire data estate so they can optimise new technologies, especially AI. This mission is critical today, where data is not just a resource but the backbone of business operations and strategy. “We help customers manage their data estate from start to end, particularly in Microsoft 365, to help them bolster their data security posture, providing robust cybersecurity measures, offering comprehensive control and visibility across the digital workplace, and delivering intelligent data insights through automation,” McNamara elucidates. This statement underscores the intricate relationship between data management and business efficiency, highlighting AvePoint’s role in helping organisations realise a secure and compliant digital environment that improves the employee experience and then building on this foundation with a meaningful AI strategy.
Spanning across 25 global offices with its headquarters nestled in Jersey City, New Jersey, AvePoint’s global presence is significant. Yet, its commitment to regional markets, particularly Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), showcases a tailored approach to addressing specific market needs and challenges. Since its inception in 2001 and its establishment in the ANZ region in 2008, AvePoint has witnessed firsthand the technological and strategic evolution that has swept across industries. With a robust team of approximately 2,650 globally and a dedicated 50-person team in ANZ, AvePoint is uniquely positioned to support the region’s diverse needs, from Sydney to Melbourne and beyond.
Delving into the product dimension, McNamara shed light on the pivotal role of AI and machine learning in AvePoint’s solutions, particularly through AvePoint Opus, their AI-powered information management and records management solution. This innovative tool exemplifies AvePoint’s forward-thinking approach, employing smart classification techniques to streamline data management policies, provide better visibility into data utilisation, improve quality, and lower the risk of data breaches. “AvePoint Opus examines our customers’ data and, based on trends and patterns, rapidly classifies data based on criteria that our customers set,” McNamara describes. This application of AI not only demonstrates AvePoint’s technological sophistication but also its commitment to addressing complex data management challenges with advanced solutions.
In a digital era marked by escalating cybersecurity threats, McNamara underscored the critical importance of robust backup and data protection solutions. He highlights Australia’s unfortunate distinction as a highly data breach-prone country, illustrating the dire need for effective data protection strategies. AvePoint’s solutions, as McNamara points out, offer a fail-safe against data loss and breaches, addressing a crucial gap in the market for comprehensive, secure data protection.
The interview further explored market trends driving customer adoption, where AI and the shift towards hybrid and multi-cloud environments post-COVID. McNamara highlighted the intrinsic value and crucial need for data quality to compete and adapt in today’s dynamic business landscape. “What’s going to differentiate organisations are those with a strong data estate, confident in the quality and relevance of their data,” McNamara said.
This challenge extends to regulated industries – such as government, healthcare, and financial services – where McNamara pinpointed the struggle to manage rapidly growing data estates with the need to comply with stringent regulations such as Essential 8, for example. AvePoint ANZ works closely with regulated industries, with one recent example being its work with a public service agency in New Zealand. With AvePoint, the agency was able to implement scalable data governance, deploy a new records management architecture, meet Archives New Zealand’s General Disposal Authority six and an internal authority, simplify their business classification scheme by reducing the number of terms by more than 60%, and implement robust and comprehensive data protection for Microsoft 365. AvePoint has also helped Bendigo Kagan Institute enable compliant management practices like naming conventions, audit trails, and legal records destruction. Another example is Regional Investment Corporation, which is able to comply with “Mitigation Strategies to Recover Data Control” from the ACSC Essential 8 and related ISM (Australian Government Information Security Manual) control with AvePoint’s data backup solutions.
Looking ahead, McNamara articulated a vision for AvePoint centred on creating integrated solutions for comprehensive data management and security. “It’s about how we create integration in our solutions to deliver on that promise of information management, governance, and protection end to end,” McNamara concludes, painting a future where AvePoint continues to lead and shape the industry with cutting-edge solutions and unwavering dedication to data excellence.
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