The Business Case for Organizational Resilience
More than 3,500 IT risk and security professionals congregated outside of Washington, D.C., recently to attend the 2019 Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit to gain the latest insights on evolving security trends and the ever-changing threat landscape.
I was among the team from Expedient who were there to meet with vendors, partners, clients, and analysts. Throughout the week, several topic areas were comprehensively covered with respect to some of today’s top priorities for security and risk in digital business. These were key areas where I focused my engagement:
- Choosing Cybersecurity Standards and Frameworks – continuously improving an effective posture that meets the broadest needs of organization that rely on Expedient services to achieve business resilience
- Understanding Compliance Challenges – designing, implementing, and integrating risk management systems based upon the government and industry mandates that apply to a variety of client vertical industries requiring business resilience
The Principles of Organizational Resilience
As I have for the past three years, I attended sessions on the topic of organizational resilience, which Gartner defines as a set of techniques that allow people, processes, and information systems to adapt to changing patterns. This approach enables the ability to adjust operations in the face of changing business conditions. Integrating the principles of Organizational Resilience into day-to-day operations will provide a platform for our clients to more closely manage risk.
My interest in this topic is related to Expedient’s position as a disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) solution provider. Through DRaaS and managed security services, Expedient plays a role in the organizational resilience of its clients by providing co-managed capabilities that protect data and reduce the likelihood of pervasive threats from impacting day-to-day business operations.
How Agile is Your Business?
Building upon the posture of ContinuousNEXT that I first heard about at Gartner’s 2018 Symposium, Organizational Resilience confronts changes in technology, competition, and business in order to possess the capability to adapt as the pace of change quickens. To embody this approach, business leaders are challenged to introduce new practices, develop new capabilities, and create new ways to succeed. Partnering with a service provider is one way accelerate implementation of this approach to managing risk and enhancing security.
There were several thought leaders and inspirational guest speakers at the conference, including Michael Chertoff (former Secretary of Homeland Security), Patrick Lencioni (author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”), Nicole Malachowski (retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and first female Thunderbird Pilot and Combat Veteran), and others. Each speaker offered a different perspective on the theme of change that connects back to the concepts of ContinuousNEXT and Organizational Resilience that are needed to adapt to digital business operations.
As Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Rosenson is responsible for overseeing organizational functions that drive growth at Expedient. Jon additionally acts as an external spokesperson conveying the Expedient story. Follow him on Twitter.
