Doing business with Andy Prow of Aura Group

Title: CEO-founder of Aura Group

Twitter handle: I use LinkedIn

How long have you been in your current role?

Fourteen years.

What business technology issue is your organisation focusing on?

Complete IT security, our expertise is in helping customers understand their security issues and providing the tools and knowledge to help them fix them. Our global growth, however, is centred solely around shielding websites from attacks.

What are your interests away from work?

DIY (13 years into our current ‘grand design’), travel (27 countries down, 169 still to go), tae kwon- do (1st Dan black belt) and most importantly, family time.

What are you reading at the moment?

The Daylight War by Peter V Brett, part of a great series. It is the story of mankind versus demons rising from of the core of the earth, not so unlike many IT projects I’ve been involved in!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Back yourself, if you don’t whole heartedly believe you’ll succeed, then you probably won’t.

Professionally, who do you admire most?

Steve Jobs, for his unwavering focus in producing what he believed the market wanted.

Back yourself, if you don’t whole heartedly believe you’ll succeed, then you probably won’t.Andy Prow, Aura Group

How long have you been working in IT?

Twenty years.

If you weren’t working in IT, What would you be doing?

Exploring the world with my wife and family and presenting on one of those crazy National Geographic Intrepid Journey series.

What was your first job?

Saturday sales assistant on the record department in a large department store.

What’s the best thing about working with IT executives?

They’re constantly using new technology to reinvent how we do things, making our lives simpler and easier through smart technology.

What is the worst?

Constantly using new technology to completely break how we do things today. Making our lives more complex and less productive, through completely failing to successfully implement what should have been really smart technology!

A key pointer for New Zealand technology companies that want to expand their offshore markets?

In New Zealand we’re great at creating new and innovative products and ways of doing things. However, our challenge is that our overseas competition is far better at building and selling theirs. The key is therefore getting the world to know about you and being able to deliver on that global scale.

Top tips for keeping abreast of business and technology trends?

Networking and communicating with the right people. We have key staff presenting around the world and by virtue, see what the rest of the world is up to.

Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz

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