In 2011, Oscar Diaz left his home country of Venezuela to escape the ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis that made it unsafe for him and his family to live there. Immigrating to Canada, he found the courage to fulfill a lifelong dream implanted from his experiences as a child.
Growing up, Oscar’s parents could always provide for the family, but there were continual restrictions on what they could afford to do.
“I became fascinated with technology the moment I saw an ad for the first Macintosh computer,” Oscar says. “I was eight years old, and I asked my dad if we could get a computer, but my dad couldn’t afford it. I loved technology, and although I had a friend who let me use his computer, I couldn’t get a computer until I went to university. I knew I never wanted to worry about whether or not I could pay for something.”
He was also influenced by his dad’s regrets for not being able to start a business. “My dad came from a small town in Venezuela and wanted to have a business,” Oscar recalls. “But by the time he thought about doing it, he couldn’t take the risk because he had a family, a mortgage and bills. He always told me things I should do so I could eventually have a business and advised me not to wait.”
In college, Oscar studied Information Technology Engineering at UNITEC (Center Technological University in Venezuela), where during his five-year program, he worked as a coding instructor. After graduating, he worked at Digitel Corp, where he was rapidly promoted. During his first management position, he oversaw a team of 10 engineers and 200+ server infrastructures running on Microsoft products. Later, as the Application Manager, he oversaw Business Intelligence, Web Application Development and Customer Liaison Units and supervised a team of 20+.
However, in 1998, when a new regime took over the government in Venezuela, Oscar witnessed the infrastructure and economy collapsing. With class wars and street protests erupting, he gathered his family and fled the country. When he moved to Calgary, Canada, he worked as a contractor and saw the opportunity to bring enterprise IT practices to small and medium-sized businesses. Taking a leap of faith to fulfill his childhood dream, he founded Tecbound Technology in 2011 and began putting enterprise-level processes, procedures and redundancies in place for small business owners. “I discovered that the small business community was missing key ingredients and needed to be protected,” Oscar says. “I also found that small business owners are often left in the dark. Sometimes they don’t even know the passwords, and if their IT guy leaves, they are in real trouble.
“I always want the business owner to know what’s going on so he’s never in danger of being held hostage by an employee or an IT provider.”
How Law Enforcement Agencies Came To Trust Tecbound Technology
As the word got out about Oscar, one referral introduced him to the world of police agencies. “I discovered that police agencies have a lot of technical requirements, laws and standards they must meet to be in compliance with the federal government,” Oscar says. “It’s extremely complicated, but no one was helping them. After doing some research, I realized that their requirements are similar to what enterprises need. Using our enterprise-level experience, we help these police agencies efficiently meet the NCACR compliance requirements and operate properly.”
Oscar developed a scorecard that helps identify where police agencies have a gap and uses this information to create a plan for the agencies. “We can measure exactly where they are,” Oscar says, “and are able to immediately tell them precisely what they need to do to get approved.”
Today, Tecbound Technology is the only IT provider in Calgary with an NCACR compliance and cyber security expert with over 20 years of IT experience in offering police agencies, public safety associations and NGOs enterprise-level IT services. Oscar has expanded from serving clients in Calgary to also serving clients in Vancouver, Miami and Latin America. Because of his ability to get police agencies where they need to be to meet NCACR compliance quickly, along with the growth success he’s helped his clients achieve, his company has grown 200% in the last three years.
A Sought-After Cyber Security Expert
After being brought in to save companies from ransomware, Oscar doubled down on cyber security. Considered an expert, he authored a best-selling book, On Thin Ice, and has also been featured in the media. “I realized in 2015 that if you don’t have cyber security in place and proper backups, you’re going to lose your business, period,” Oscar says. “We were hearing horror stories every day about companies that were hit and destroyed by ransomware. Police agencies, because of the confidential information they handle, are a target by hackers. We are helping them get better prepared against cybercriminals and for disaster recovery.”
A Proactive Approach To Technology
Oscar credits Digitel with giving him a forward-thinking attitude and has a track record of always being ahead of the curve. He began migrating his clients to the cloud when it was first coming out. “Working with enterprise companies in Latin America, I saw the cloud was becoming more and more important,” Oscar says. “I knew that if you didn’t move to the cloud, you’d be a dinosaur in the IT industry, so I put all my customers on the cloud. By the time the pandemic hit, all my clients were already set up to work remotely.”
Why Oscar Is Passionate About Eliminating Technological Frustration
Watching his mom’s frustration with computers during her post-graduate studies influenced Oscar to help business owners and police agencies use technology without having to depend 100% on their IT provider. “My mom is extremely smart,” Oscar says. “She was principal of two schools in Venezuela, but she still was not able to master technology and struggled badly with it. Had I not helped her, she would not have graduated. Many have trouble with technology, and I recognize how dependent they are. I’ve also seen IT companies take advantage of that dependency. I am passionate about removing that frustration and black-box component and am completely transparent so my clients can understand what’s going on and use technology as an asset to grow their business.”
Helping Give Kids A Hand Up
Oscar is also passionate about helping kids. He sponsors several children through not-for-profit organizations World Vision and Children Believe and helps kids get involved in sports activities to encourage them to become the best they can be. “I want to help kids who are having a rough time and give them opportunity,” Oscar says.
Committed To Raising The Standard Of IT For Law Enforcement
“When I see people struggling with technology, I think back to my mom trying to use a computer,” says Oscar. “I believe it is my duty and responsibility to help people who are struggling with technology. I am committed to making Tecbound Technology the standard, not the exception, for how IT is delivered to police agencies. Because just like I wanted to start my own business to have freedom from worry, I want police agencies to be free from worrying about their technology. My motto is ‘Freedom To Shine.’ We will look after your technology so it’s not a distraction and you can focus on shining in your pursuits.”
For more information on Tecbound Technology, visit https://www.tecbound.com/.
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