A business plan often begins with an idea for selling a unique product or service, or an idea for selling an existing product or service in a unique way. Making the idea marketable is a challenge, but after you do, another challenge is presented: you must strive to retain success, as much as you strived to attain it. In a business world that thrives on IT, this is what a cyber security business plan, implemented as a cyber security business model, allows you to do.
How the Model Becomes the Plan
Before you started your business, you probably spent plenty of time examining what other businesses, which are now your competitors, had already done. In doing so, you likely came away with three types of impressions of what you observed: things you wanted to emulate to encourage success, things you wanted to avoid to avert mediocrity, and things you needed to decide how to do on your own, because you had a unique plan that hadn’t hit the scene yet.
Creating a successful cyber security business model also involves these three types of observations. However, unless you’re starting an IT company, and you’ll begin by serving as your own cyber security manager, the decisions that result from those observations will be made with the help of the consultant you hire to serve as your trusted cyber security advisor.
The consultant will develop your cyber security business plan based on what it knows would work well for your business, as well as what it knows would make your business tread water, instead of giving you a chance to swim ahead of the pack. The plan will become an actionable cyber security business model based on two things: your vision for how the IT side of your business should operate, and your consultant’s guidance for making the implementations.
No IT Experience Is Not a Problem
If IT isn’t your area of expertise, and a “vision” for business IT operations is something you need a consultant to translate from your plans for B2C or B2B commerce, your consultant will serve you in this capacity. It’s the manner in which IT consultants often find it easiest to serve business startup clients. It’s also an arrangement that’s highly efficient at getting a cyber security business plan off and running, in the form of an official cyber security business model.
How you work with your consultant is ultimately a flexible decision that the two of you will make together. You’ll always have the final say, but it’s wise to let the consultant have the final word on technical matters. Cyber security is an area of IT that will guard the success of your business by guarding sensitive information that you retain from your customers or clients. One of the primary goals will always be to prevent a data breach that could cost you millions.
Six Elements of Actionable Plans
After working with the consultant to approve a plan for the cyber security of your business, it will be time to activate the plan into the model that serves your business interests. A cyber security business model is customized to serve the needs of the individual client, but there are six plan elements all clients address. These are elements of your cyber security plan that, over time, may involve some change, but will always factor into how your business operates.
1. Standards for Industry Compliance
Every industry has a conception of how its business entities should regard cyber security. Some industries place cyber security policies mostly at the discretion of territorial law, while others have a special committee dedicated to industry cyber security policy in all states. In each case, the degree of regulation is quite fair, considering the scope of what it governs.
2. Third-Party or In-House Resources
For some businesses, whether to deploy third-party or in-house cyber security is mostly a financial concern. For others, the determination is primarily based on a sense of how their business “should” operate. Using a third-party is the most economical way to receive elite service. However, the right decision is ultimately the one that best serves your IT needs.
3. Level of Security Risk Remediation
In a cyber security business model, a remediation plan proactively addresses issues that lead to security problems, and it responsively addresses security problems that arise unexpectedly. As security needs change, so does the plan. Most adjustments are refinements, not changes that reset the course. A plan is often viewed as a “list” of items, which must receive a response.
4. Degree of Vulnerability Assessment
As in other areas of IT, vulnerability assessments for cyber security assess hardware and software resources for weak points. In cyber security, these are points that hackers could exploit to access the network. To varying degrees, cyber security applications are exposed to active attempts to disarm them, making vulnerability assessments a constant necessity.
5. The Policy for Employee-Owned IT
In a cyber security business model, one of the most debated considerations in a hardware ownership policy is cell phones. However, employees tend to use phones in a personal manner out of familiarity, regardless of whether the phones belong to them or the employer. For phones, a policy of use can be more impactful than a policy that only regards ownership.
6. Cyber Insurance Policy Investment
Some IT commentators say that cyber insurance will be a notable aspect of the “future” of business IT. But this runs contrary to the notion that artificial intelligence (AI) will defeat practically all hack attempts, once it reaches full autonomy and dictates its own proper use. The insurance covers most costs that result from the theft of sensitive personal information, including the cost of legal services, customer notification activities, and data restoration.
Start Planning Today With NIC
From your first day of operating a digitally secure business to your final day at the office, decisions regarding cyber security will be some of the most important determinations you make. For owners of startups, choosing an expert cyber security consultant is often the first of these important decisions. If you need assistance with building a cyber security business plan to create an actionable cyber security business model, NIC offers considerable expertise.
We have two decades of experience in providing Los Angeles area businesses with a range of elite cyber security services. Whether you simply wish to start by using a consultant, or you prefer to receive advice from a party who can become a provider of services, when the time is right, we welcome you as a client in whichever capacity you prefer to engage with us. To start planning cyber security for your future in business, contact us to schedule a free consultation.
