Owner – Keeran Systems – www.keeransystems.com

“Unsurpassable” is a word that is starting to ring true for Rishi Patel. When his father bought a computer in the late 1980s, Patel started to learn how they worked, and was only 17 when he started his one-man consulting business in 1999. Seven years later, the business has turned into a nine-person team.

At 24,this born and raised Edmontonian is the owner of Keeran Systems, an IT security and infrastructure design firm where his role is to “steer our ship and build our client base.” Keeran “helps companies measure and manage security risk through network design, system support, and hardware procurement.

“We come in there like a SWAT team to clean things up,” says Patel, adding that they’re not there to replace a company’s IT department, only enhance it. One specialty is vulnerability assessment: the evaluation of a company’s computer security. “I think vulnerability assessment is the new antivirus of the millennium,” explains Patel.
A new software and hardware, called KeeranGuard, has the company on the radar in the United States. The product assesses a client’s network, rates the security risk and impact, and provides a solution. It was developed in collaboration with an American firm.

Patel says it’s nearly 100 percent effective, and 12 percent
of Fortune 1000 companies use KeeranGuard. Not a bad start to his long-term strategy of expanding nationally and into the European market in the next five years. Patel gives his thoughts on having a successful company: “The secret is managing your growth. The challenge is delivering the solution on time.”