Who’s Who in 2022, Business: Jessie Jeffrey

Jessie Jeffrey won the inaugural Hills and Districts Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Award (chamber category) this year as well as the AusMumpreneur Silver Award in the Digital Services – IT category.

She was also named a finalist in the Author category of the 2022 AusMumpreneur Awards

About Jessie Jeffrey

Jessie Jeffrey joined husband Chris at Cyber Guru almost seven years ago after an extensive career in medical research and having been a silent partner for many years in the business he founded at the age of 14.

Now working on business development at Cyber Guru, Jessie says the skills she learnt as a medical researcher - such as project management, big data, analytics and training, transferred seamlessly when she formally joined the company in 2016.

The Business Development Guru at Cyber Guru, Jessie is an accomplished technologist, researcher, strategist, and educator, as well as a passionate supporter of small and medium businesses, which she helps create IT environments that support their business goals and strategies.

She also helps businesses to meet their legal obligations associated with data protection and breaches.

Cyber Guru offers professional and affordable computer solutions to small businesses and not-for-profit organisations.

Jessie and Chris overcame a 43 percent drop in monthly turnover when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in April this year turnover was up 524 percent compared with April 2020.

Jessie says annual turnover has almost doubled since the start of the pandemic, attributing the reversal of fortune to a change in business strategy.

“In April 2020, when the lockdown began our clients simply packed up their devices and began working from home as they were already empowered to work remotely,” Jessie says.

“Our monthly turnover dropped 43 percent, hardware was almost impossible to source, and cyber-attacks targeting small businesses became more frequent.”

Before the pandemic, Cyber Guru had been exploring proactive management as a means of minimising downtime and increasing cybersecurity, Jessie says.

“We decided to change our business model and began offering ongoing proactive support and management.

“I am proud of the way we changed and adjusted to the pandemic and in doing so assisted other businesses to thrive during this time.”