Hi there. This is the first post in a five-post series that introduces a set of free tools to help risk management leaders gain internal alignment for a new cybersecurity initiative. The tools are designed to help make getting buy-in easier and faster.
The tools themselves are spreadsheet fill-in-the-blank templates with instructions to guide you through different thought exercises. Each exercise has a specific purpose:
- To gain buy-in, you’ll need to be prepared to talk to each stakeholder about how the initiative benefits them personally. We created the Stakeholder Benefits Guide for that.
- For full alignment across the company on how the initiative will work, you’re going to need to present a Change Management Process so everyone knows how they’re impacted and what will be done differently moving forward.
- For the actual roll-out, you’ll need to communicate what Day 1 looks like. Who’s involved? What is expected of them? When does it happen? We provide the Roll-Out Process tool for this.
- With the Alignment Checklist you’ll list all the Individuals and teams you need support from, and especially those from who you need budget approval. You’ll combine the information you recorded in the tools above and present your idea to these people.
Why did we create these templates?
Let’s be brutally honest here. With all the manual processes, the practice of industrial cyber risk management can be slow (it’s why we built our platform – to speed things up). The bad actors we’re all protecting ourselves against are not. They’re fast.
Our team knows from personal experience how difficult it is for new cyber initiatives to gain traction inside a large company. We’ve been there through the long processes to get an initiative approved and then finally get to a starting point.
The reality in the world of cybercrime is that by the time a corporate cyber team gets an initiative approved, implemented, and then ready for measuring the first results, the bad actors have already adjusted course. We all must move faster.
It’s the reason our platform and company exist. And it’s the reason we created these specific tools – to help cyber initiates get through the approval and implementation stages faster. Ultimately, if you can get to a starting point with your initiative faster, you’ll make faster progress in protecting what matters
