Cybersecurity is Not Reaching its Full Potential

Cybersecurity has evolved with the rapid rise of digital transformation, becoming a crucial element of trust for products and services. 

No longer just a function of preventing impacts and meeting regulatory requirements, cybersecurity is emerging as a cornerstone for future enhancement of user-experiences, compelling features, and growth into new fields.

Wherever there are Risks, there are also Opportunities

I’ve been collaborating with Ben Matthews and Michael Gurau from Altman Solon, a leading Tech, Media, and Telecom consulting firm, to highlight how cybersecurity can be optimized to manage the risks-of-loss but also how it can contribute to emerging business opportunities for organizations.  They are looking to help their clients improve their risk strategy and understand how to seize business advantages.

If the security leadership, C-suites, and Boards are not thinking about how cybersecurity can bring opportunities to their business, they are behind the curve.

Cybersecurity is a leverage point for competitive advantages in the digital world. Those who look at the opportunities, in addition to the risk mitigation aspects, will have a strategic advantage.

We have seen examples across privacy, security, and safety that showcase how consumer's trust and loyalty are affected by cybersecurity incidents. Abandonment, delays in adoption, and resistance to new offerings are becoming more common. That opens the door to competition or reinforces the position of organizations that proactively act to preserve customer’s trust.

Competition is Knocking and Security is Pivotal

Industries are evolving rapidly over time through technical innovation and exploring new markets. This can introduce challengers to the market leaders and raise the expectations of customers that result in a shift of market-share.

Cybersecurity is a growing differentiator. As an example, the recent digitization of patient records and integration of health-related devices, which gather tremendous amounts of data, has given rise to the idea of healthcare data exchanges. Such exchanges are working feverishly to secure data and reinforce trust in the aggregated design to abate fears from patients and concerns from regulatory authorities. Conversely, decentralized healthcare initiatives are making security, privacy, and portability the major talking points in their models to compete with those exchanges, highlighting weaknesses in centralized architectures. 

Changes are occurring across all sectors, with financial, telecommunications, healthcare, technology, automotive, online services, retail, manufacturing, government, and national critical infrastructures moving first.

Cybersecurity Relevance

The core elements of cybersecurity, being security, privacy, and safety, are powerful narratives and are becoming more prominent for organizations to showcase their leadership. 

It is estimated that between 60% and 90% of SMB go out of business after a major cyberattack. Where do those customers go? -- to vendors and suppliers who are more trustworthy, have deployed extra robust security in their offerings, are better prepared to respond to incidents, and are leaning forward to mitigate future risks. They differentiate themselves by showing cybersecurity savvy, maturity, and thought-leadership in their sector.

Cybersecurity, cyber-ethics, and operational excellence will be the hallmarks of trust in our future digital world. 

Cybersecurity Leadership

Right now, not many companies are ready to take advantage of such market-shifting opportunities, nor are they investing properly to protect the share they currently hold.

That is changing. Those who are not keeping up with their competitors will find themselves on the short end of the stick. Cyber savvy boards are realizing the potential advantages and some are already exploring how best to both protect and advance the bottom line with better security and through reinforced trust. And, insurance alone does not deliver. It takes adaptation of the business to build longstanding loyalty and seize moments of opportunity.

It is time for the cybersecurity industry to start discussing the trajectory of how it is crucial in managing the risks and enabling opportunities for the business. In the coming years, every successful CISO will be talking about how they can empower the greater success of the organization.

The full Altman Solmon infographic deck and more information is available here.