We’re very excited to unveil our latest video from our new blog series titled “Insights from the Top: 3 Questions with PLM Leaders.” Every month, we’ll feature a different member of our leadership team, offering their perspectives on industry trends and the crucial role PLM plays in addressing the needs of the wood niche.
In this month’s edition, we are joined by VP of Information Technology – Erin Selfe
To her, it is vital for our people, our businesses and our economy that we begin training for cyber resilience all throughout your organization. She believes it’s quite an undertaking to get people to be continuously aware every day of the threats that are surrounding them.
“Regarding cyber exposures, within your investments in your technology, whether you’re a large business or a small business, you probably still have a computer on your desk that needs to run. I will estimate that at least 25% of the expenditures over the last few years have been either you’ve had to increase your budgets to be able to cover the offenses and defenses for cyber – or you need to be cutting projects in other areas.”
In 2023 alone, the investments in cyber grew four times as quickly as the growth in the worldwide economy.
“It’s a lot of money that’s being pumped into cyber. If you think about that amount of money, although it may be good where we’re generating business, think about what we could be doing, with those resources and that money: bettering our businesses and bettering the planet with that amount of money.”
However, there is a dark side. “I think my statistics from around are a bit dated, but about $4 trillion has been lost to cyber and fraud in the United States alone. If you add all of that, that is quite a bit of a hit on our economy and to our businesses every day.
What is Selfe’s opinion on all this data? “Your business is impacted one way or another. I highly encourage that everybody have a line item on their budget to make sure that we’re managing that risk.”
While people quickly turn to AI to solve all their problems, Selfe doesn’t see AI as the one-stop fix-all some see it to be.
“AI is advancing faster than the speed of light. There’s a lot of great things that we can do with AI. But again, it’s a tool in the toolbox. We can’t expect that technology is going to solve all of our problems and it’s not going to run our business. We can never let go of the sight that it’s the people – the hands of the people that the tools are. It’s keeping all those things tied together for a strong business.”
Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company (PLM) (www.plmins.com) is a nationally recognized property and casualty insurance carrier serving the lumber, woodworking and building material industries. Backed by 129 years of experience, the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company protects over 5,500 businesses nationwide with property, general liability, inland marine, business automobile, commercial excess liability and equipment breakdown coverages. PLM is also able to place workers’ comp through Green Tree Risk Partners, their wholesale brokerage.
