New Environment
For years we have been warned about business disruptions that could bring business activity to a screeching halt and have far-reaching consequences that alter life as we know it. The Covid-19 has profound impacts on the health of our customers, employees, families, and loved ones. Currently, we see that Governments and business organizations are executing their business continuity plans, and the new challenges are pushing conventional limits. Leadership across many disciplines, industries, and skill set are collaborating on innovative solutions and strategies to deliver solutions to society, clients, and employees. These collaborations will produce new methods, schools of thought, products, and processes that will change the course of future commerce. We believe that this will bring fundamental changes to every organization.
The first change will be increased investments in technology infrastructure to allow for more activities remotely. Organizations will need to determine roles within the business and provide an access level that will enable them to function. Determine before the on-boarding process. Determine what External vendors and partners need access to provide value. Communicate/understand the process of communication when one of your Vendor/Partner infrastructures is a breach. Pinholes in the infrastructure allow vendors and partners to see or view a specific area in the infrastructure.
The second change will reassessment of supplier risk. The supply chain will most likely see a broader adaptation of a hybrid structure between 3rd Party and Internal monitoring. To stay agile, companies must implement an active risk monitoring system. For those organizations that lack the resources, many 3rd party risk suppliers will actively monitor financial, biological, legal, geopolitical, and environmental risk related to your company. For most more substantial organizations, they will desire to take more active roles in items of risk deemed critical on the priority list.
Third, increase technology investments to integrate business processes in more crystalline forms that allow for organizational changes with less knowledge drain. Companies will move to implement technology with base concepts of Blockchain, IoT, Automation, and DevOps. Leadership will create an integration plan uniquely tailored to the needs uncovered during discovery. The integrations need to re-evaluate after the merged data is officially live in production to ensure end-user expectations are aligned with the outcome.
The fourth will be a reassessment of the cyber security risk. With more usage of virtual platforms from employees, vendors, and clients, organizations will need to re-evaluate how the new technology implementations will impact cyber risk mitigation strategies.