Fewer outages, faster openings
Infrastructure and networks: multi-site networks, servers, VPN and failover, including remote sites on satellite. A new location joins without an outage.
Colorado Springs, COAnchorage, AKRural Alaska villages
Jason Kozak
I turn messy business problems into technology that just works.
I help small, multi-site businesses spend less on technology, lose less time to it, and stop fixing the same problem twice. Senior Technology Strategist: infrastructure, networks, security and practical AI, from a corporate office to remote village stores in rural Alaska.
6 sitesmoved to one network in an 18.5-minute planned window, so the business barely noticed
251pages of runbooks and SOPs in under four months, so the business doesn't run on one person's memory
11 yrsin information security: nine at a Fortune 500 insurer, including PCI audits, and two leading it now
What I do
The technology a growing business runs on, built to run itself.
Less risk, cleaner audits
Security and compliance: Microsoft 365 and endpoint security, email authentication, PCI programs, and security awareness training that people actually read.
More done without more hires
Practical AI and automation: company-wide AI adoption with training, safety rules and cost controls, plus automation that removes repeat work instead of adding headcount.
A plan the owner can follow
Strategy and leadership: technology roadmaps, vendor and cost decisions, staff training, and project management when there is no project manager on payroll.
Where the work happens
Rural Alaska is not Anchorage.
Much of my work supports village stores in rural Alaska, communities off the road system that you reach by small plane, boat or snowmachine. It's a different world from Anchorage, Juneau or even Nome. Internet comes by satellite, you'll likely have no cell reception, and you may not have running water. Freight comes in by air or on a barge that runs once or twice a year.
Getting there is a project of its own. Bush flights are expensive, a village usually sees one or two a day in and out, and the planes seat six plus the pilot. Fog grounds them often, so you're at the mercy of the weather and the skill of your pilot.
Once you're in the bush, that's it. There's no running to Best Buy or Costco for something you forgot. If something's missing, you figure out how to make it work with what you have. The next flight out is tomorrow, weather permitting, and the weather may not be in a permitting mood. So every install comes down to meticulous planning, coordination and skill.
Plan it to the last cable
Equipment is specced, tested and staged weeks ahead, then shipped on the right flight or barge so it's waiting when I land. Spares go in the box, because a missing four-dollar part can mean another four-figure trip.
Make it work with what's there
On site, the plan meets reality. When something doesn't fit, I solve it with the gear on hand, then document what changed so the next person isn't surprised.
Built to run without me
Satellite links are thin and the nearest technician is a flight away. Systems are built to be managed remotely and simple enough for store staff to run day to day.
Live
Freight in the air over Western Alaska, right now.
Anchorage is one of the busiest air cargo hubs in the world, and the villages I support get much of their freight by plane. This is live public flight data, filtered to aircraft flying under cargo-carrier callsigns and refreshed every minute: a small piece of my God's Eye View project.
Checking the sky…
Gold marks Alaska bush carriers. Callsign matching is a good guess, not a manifest. Range: 250 nautical miles around the middle of Western Alaska. Flight data from adsb.lol (ODbL).
How I work
Steady, deliberate progress beats heroic sprints. If I can make something run itself, I will.
I favor leverage over headcount: systems, documentation and automation, so nobody fixes the same thing twice and one person can cover work that usually takes two to three. I'm the person to call when the tech is held together with duct tape, tribal knowledge and optimism.
I lead by bringing people along. So far that has meant training 14 colleagues to use AI well and running projects across owners, developers, vendors and village store staff. Earlier in my career, I managed retail store operations.
AI does the legwork, and I make the calls. Every agent has a job, rules, and someone checking its work, me included.
And I report what I didn't measure as plainly as what I did. A number without its blind spots is how good people make bad decisions.
Contact
Let's talk.
Open to full-time leadership roles and select consulting work. Remote, hybrid or on-site. On-site includes places you need a bush plane to reach.