Alexandre Martinez, CEO, IT-ONE, highlights the importance of strategic planning and partners to boost the maturity of companies concerned with Digital Transformation and cybersecurity.
Digital security is undoubtedly one of the major issues today. A quick search on the Internet, for example, is enough to discover cases of companies that had their data exposed or were victims of attacks. Given this, it is natural that corporate leaders find themselves under constant pressure to ensure that their information is always protected.
What few leaders remember, however, is that the success of a cybersecurity policy does not happen overnight. Companies must build a certain maturity to help teams understand the characteristics of the business, which areas need to be strengthened and the strategies that might be useful to keep data and processes secure – and deliver high performance.
Regarding data protection, specifically, we need to understand which records are the most valuable and therefore deserve full attention, as well as which factors and practices to consider to mitigate threats without compromising business agility and plans to leverage innovations and services offered.
A mature and cohesive plan is required to achieve this, encompassing assertive technology investments, strong alliances with specialized partners, and self-knowledge to identify which areas and technologies are vital to the company’s overall success.
Consolidating this process requires leaders to have a holistic view of their organizations. It is not easy, of course. Not by chance, a recent Gartner survey indicated that less than 20% of Digital Transformation initiatives are immediately successful. The study highlights that among the main reasons for this are the lack of a long-term digitalization program and the failure to include cybersecurity as a strategic pillar from the beginning of the process.
It is worth pointing out that the matter at issue is not the failure of initiative. Innovation needs trials to validate the results. It is what digital maturation is all about: every program needs layers that solidify over time.
It is natural for companies to go through six different stages of digital security maturity, these being: the non-existent protection level, with no specific policy for the subject; the initial point, in which there are still no defined processes, but concern begins; the repeatable format, when processes are defined, inconsistently; the defined stage, which already has formal and firmer practices; the managed stage, when there is already an efficient and controllable program; and, finally, the optimized level whose highlight is the existence of automated and intelligence systems that help predictively mitigate threats.
Of course, it is worth reinforcing that the learning curve between the outset, with non-existent cybersecurity policies, and the ‘optimized’ stage, with security-oriented teams and systems, does not happen overnight.
Building this maturity involves consolidating the theme as a strategic guideline pursued by the leadership, training talents who help disseminate the importance of digital protection actions and, likewise, seeking partners who assist in paving the security layer as an intrinsic element for all the organization’s innovation initiatives.
By investing in this digital security maturity plan, companies take a huge step towards ensuring better organization, control and efficiency over cybersecurity and Digital Transformation processes. For managers, therefore, consolidating an effective digital maturity program means the chance to accelerate and maximize the ability to identify and resolve critical points in organizational processes.
With an optimized security maturity model, that is, at the maximum maturity level, companies stop acting reactively to issues and assume a new capacity to work proactively and strategically, anticipating items of attention. There are continuous improvements in information security practices, and the number of incidents tends to decrease.
The company now has metrics and measures to strengthen the cybersecurity strategy that ultimately also brings the opportunity to provide better experiences for everyone involved – from the internal IT team to the customer at the end of the delivery chain.
When we think about innovation, just like in a marathon or a climb, we must think step by step, mapping out strategies that will help us reach the stages strongly. It requires attention to oneself, alliances that help us strengthen the whole structure around us, commitment to the future and a great desire to reach goals and succeed. It takes focus, maturity and will to go to the top and beyond.
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