Welcome back. Today we’re looking at how to implement a new cybersecurity initiative. Specifically, we’re putting a roll-out process together for day 1. This is the final post in a five-post series on helping risk management leaders gain internal alignment for a new cybersecurity initiative. The tools were designed to help make getting buy-in easier and faster. For a quick introduction to the full suite of tools, check out the post linked above. You’ll get an overview of each tool and why they exist.
At this point in the series, you know who you need to gain alignment from, how each stakeholder benefits, and you’ve looked at all the things that will change as a result of implementing your idea.
The next step is to work on your roll-out process. This involves organizing the things that will start happening on day 1 of your initiative, and communicating that to everyone.
If you’re still early on and looking to gain initial support for your idea it may seem premature to work on a roll-out process. But, as we discussed in the post about Change Management, those you need support from need to be able to visualize what the new initiative will look like. And they’ll want to know it’s been thoroughly thought through so they have confidence in helping you gain support from others.
This Roll-Out Process tool is used for the following three primary tasks. We’ve used the typical roll-out process our customers use for SecurityGate.io as an example. Follow the instructions in the guide and fill in the blanks.
- Write what you’ll need to communicate about the initiative. In this first step, we include a template to help you write communication messaging that is focused on stakeholder benefits.
- Organize the timeline of the roll-out. This is a thought exercise to guide you through the events of day 1 of your new initiative. You’ll need to spend some time really thinking this through so all those impacted are prepared.
- Communicate about the initiative and what will change. This step will combine information from the steps above, as well as from the other tools you completed (Stakeholder Benefits Guide, Change Management Workflow, Alignment Checklist) to give you a process for communicating everything.
When you’ve finished this step, you’re ready to get approval for your initiative. You’ve figured out who you need to talk to, what to tell them, and how to prepare the organization for success. The next step is to go back to your Alignment Checklist and start meeting with the people you’ve identified.
