Special Report: CEOs And IT Innovation (£)

Uploaded on 2016-09-20 in Directors Reports

Synopsis

Our recent CEO/CIO research has espoused some of the significant IT/Cyber issues organisations are facing in the light of the new Digital transformation.

What became most obvious in our research is that the digital transformation which, is a commercial revolutional process, must have executive engagement at the highest levels from the outset.

Furthermore, often organisations wrongly believe this transformation to be an organic IT process. However, proper strategic planning, coordination and architecture must be in place at all levels so that the necessary change will be financially successful.

The Internet offers enormous opportunities to gain deeper understanding and analysis of your business and its position in the markets. If undertaken in a focused and strategic manner this will continually give you and the Board far more clarity about your market situation and your organisations position in different markets.

These strategic positions and market trends can be analysed using Web and Internet data as well as your own information about the current and potential market place, competition and commercial options. This work offers significant improvement over the traditional strategy processes.

However, all of our analysis has also often highlighted the massive technology-driven disruption, cyber hacks and theft which is affecting the majority of businesses.

The first step is to analyse the current situation and the possible improvements by launching a value proposition study, which involves a thorough audit of various departments, management and employees across the organisation and reviewing their understanding and engagement with the new technologies and its effects on their work and environment.

This review should take place across all areas of the business and should be done by using specialists and different employees from across the organisation so that they learn and the people being interviewed feel more comfortable that internal employees are also being used in the process.

Introduction

As many senior management, who have been analysed by us at Cyber Security Intelligence have said, most of the future at present is troubled by turbulence and uncertainty from everything from client uncertainty, cyber-attacks, IT security, financial turbulence and unrest in many markets because of Brexit, and the US Election.

Cyberspace has transformed many areas of an organisation’s operational and commercial engagement. It is evolving from a technical and often complex ecosystem, into a range of global and tactical actions, and now into a strategic planning requirement.

The current Cyber systems and their engagement require far more management and employee understanding and this involvement cannot be left just to technologists. Senior management must engage and understand the strategic plans, commercial opportunities and security implications.

You need analysis of the changes to your markets and clients that this Digital change has brought about and you need analysis of your company’s response to these changes on an on-going basis.

Many organisations see Cyber as a growing intellectually connected strategic and tactical policy network that has current and evolving opinion, news analysis and opportunities, but with significant security issues that can be used to steal and monitor an individual’s and an organisational data.

The very nature of the Internet creates global collaboration that is changing the way in which we view social connections and national borders. Now the modern globalised society is increasingly dependent on an array of organised and sometimes randomly interrelated electronic infrastructures, yet these systems and infrastructures can be successfully used to get clarity and perspective on your business and its potential.

These infrastructure networks leave "exhaust" data, which relates to the activities and transactions of network traders and collaborators, which in turn tells us forensically much about what happened with the data’s use.

In the physical world we are unable to trap and reutilise this information, but in the cyber world we can. This information is the powerful data that makes networks more efficient, customers better served and companies more knowledgeable, however many would say it is also a huge source of insecurity, which of course has to be made more secure and we have traded off these disadvantages against the upside by making good use of cyber security.

Recent Research

Our recent CEO/CIO research espoused the encounters that today’s enterprises are facing when it comes to digital transformation.

First and foremost, digital transformation is not just a top-down process. Of course it must have executive buy-in at the highest levels from the outset, however proper planning, coordination and architecture and engagement at all levels of the organisation must be in place in order for initiatives to be successful. The first step is to analyse possible improvements by launching a value proposition study, which involves a thorough audit of various departments and users across the organisation.

Many senior executives with businesses of around £100 – 400 million plus are still uncertain about the role of IT in the broader aspects of business. Often views from IT are listen to and made use of but the effects are often not the ones required to understand the commercial issues in the broad business context.

Often CEOs who lead companies with less than £50 million in revenue rising to the hundreds of millions, are uncertain about the role that these technologies should play. And so they rely on IT and 52% of them are using their Chief Data Officers and Chief Information Officers to develop a more customer and market focus but, these are IT people and have less understanding of the clients and markets that need to be analysed.

Only 23% of CEOs feel they are leaders in data and analytics usage, and 11% of the CEOs surveyed are doubtful of their company’s use of data analysis.

A full and engaging strategic analysis is what is required on an on-going basis. This is very important as markets are changing and the global affects are significantly altering many traditional markets.

Cyber needs your direction on company goals and process control and opportunities so that the business can develop the right strategy to protect and enhance the company’s assets. Cyber security and analysis professionals, working with the board and executives and employees from across the company, including of course IT and business units, will develop the opportunity/defense-in-depth strategy that is right for the company.

Cyber security doesn’t happen in isolation. As your strategy changes, markets alter conditions and as technology develops, so will the cyber security strategy. This is an area discussion and connections across your organisation and can be seen as the way that social engineering uses psychological manipulation to gather information and data about your organisation that can and probably has been be used against you – now you are going to turn the machine around and focus on the positive approach.

Background

Cyber represents the largest development and change to the global economy since the agricultural, commercial and three earlier Industrial Revolutions and the cyber revolution has been described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

This represents a significant transformation from a mechanical and analogue electronics revolution and into a global interrelated data information revolution, perhaps better defined as the Digital Age which, allows and encourages gossip, commercial activity and information, ideas, propaganda, emotional sharing and theft across the world. And just as each revolution required significant strategic and tactical changes the Cyber/Digital present now requires similar changes.

This expanding global area known as CyberSpace can be visualised as an electronic layer, similar to a nervous system running through many national, international sectors and systems. Cyber enables everything from electricity, power supplies, water systems, transportation and digital infrastructures, like the Web, to communicate, operate and function effectively.

Just as the mechanisation of agriculture and then production took over the mussels and body of our workers so the computer begins to replace our brains.

Digital Transformation Strategy

Many organisations and businesses often struggle with legacy systems that are sometimes ancient and outdated, which is not conducive to digital transformation, for two main reasons.

First, siloed technology and processes often lead to siloed departments and ultimately, siloed data that keeps enterprises from functioning at their most agile, efficient and revenue-generating potential. This is an obvious negative.

However, it is also key to note the effect that a traditionally departmentalised organisation has on its employees and culture. For any digital transformation initiative to be successful, existing walls between business units and departments must come down, and employees should buy in to a culture of digital transformation. This demonstrates the importance of a top-down, cross boarder approach, as well engaging employees across the organisation in creating and agreeing priorities for change.

CEOs, CTOs and CIOs must assess existing technology platforms, including all applications, hardware and infrastructure, and software licenses and partners. Here it is important to again stress that an IT Audit is required. An IT audit will identify the changes required to existing infrastructure, including storage, network bandwidth, analysis capabilities and security.

Digital transformation fosters a better understanding of customers through social media, online communities and advanced analytics capabilities, which in turn allows your business to engage more clearly with clients, markets and their changing requirements and options.

Competitive Research

Understanding the competition is a crucial business activity for any business. Often companies hire professionals to monitor and review competitors and to analyse the competitive landscape on a regular basis, however, this passes the process and potential solutions outside the organisation. It is also a complicated, time-consuming, and expensive process especially with the sheer amount of data that can be collected using the Internet.

Internal data training, collection and analysis can develop a framework for making competitive assessments, collects intelligence on business rivals, and understand how to position their own brand, products, and company in the marketplace. Not only can you learn best practices from competitors, but you can also learn to avoid the mistakes they make.

Think of your competition in terms of options that your customers receive. Often entrepreneurs claim that they have no competition, but everyone has competition. If your list of competitors seems long (and the prospect of tracking all of your competitors daunting), consider prioritizing your list into a few different categories.

In addition to researching what your competitors say about themselves, it is very important to review how they deliver on those promises. This information is a bit more challenging to uncover, but it's still available. Some of the ways to understand how well your competitors deliver on the promise of their brand include:

Creating a Strategic Framework

To tactically start the strategic process, you could begin by gathering competitive research and create a framework for your competitive assessment and then create a database of the following area:

Name and Web connections
Outline the Business
Mission
Products/Services
Strengths
Weaknesses
Key brand differentiators that set the competitor apart
Views of your employees
Views of the Markets from Social Networks et al.

This is the starting point and a useful tracking device but you should begin to make the process more sophisticated by reviewing the economic environment at a macro and micro level in certain geographic areas.

Once you have created a comprehensive overview of the competitive landscape, you should update your information on a quarterly basis, tracking:

New products, services and/or pricing
Any changes in messaging and overall visual identity
New advertising
Social Media promotions
Short-term or long-term promotions
New geographies
New team members
Significant sales wins and losses
Continue to analyse the Competition

There are a growing variety of competitive research tools available, depending upon whether your competitors are publically-traded companies or privately held. These resources also run the gamut in terms of how much they will cost you, from free Google Alerts and Twitter feeds to market research reports that can run into the thousands of dollars. You must ultimately weigh your needs for competitive research against the costs of certain tools and resources.

Here are some of the resources you can use to gather competitive research:

1. Web audits. The Web is likely to be one of the first places customers will visit to research your competition, so you should start there as well. Pay special attention to anything that makes a particular competitor stand out in the landscape, perhaps one of your competitors has more striking graphics than the others, or one offers special pricing deals, etc. If your competitors offer online purchasing, actually walk through the shopping and purchase process.

2. Free Web tools. One of the best ways to gather intelligence on competitors is to sign up for free services on the Internet. Subscribe to your competitors' email newsletters. Set up Google Alerts on top competitors and their executives so that you get an e-mail every time they get a mention online. Monitor Twitter for mentions of your competitors' names and by subscribing to their feeds. Keep up with competitors by feeding things like Google Alerts, Twitter, and all of your other RSS feeds into one RSS feed through a tool such as MySyndicaat.com. There are organisations that can monitor the Web, Social Media and the Dark Web and give you analysis and detail of your business’ profile.

3. Public records. If your competitors are public companies, you can often look up their government financial filings without charge. Privately-held companies are often more difficult to research, but review and analyse information from different parts of the Web.

4. Business research. It may be worthwhile to buy research reports on your industry or sector from outside firms. Often, especially in the technology sphere, analysts will publish industry overviews, many of which contain very helpful profiles of the primary competitors in a marketplace.

Competitor Review

Visit your competition, view their products and pricing, and have the same experience as a customer. You can engage mystery shoppers or simply rely on your staff to shop your competition and report back.

Customers of yours may be, or may have been, customers of your competition. Ask them either in formal or informal interviews where else they would purchase products and services similar to yours, and what they think of their options.

Security IT Audit

Everyone, from the small business owner, to senior executives in large organisations of every shape and size are confronting a seemingly insurmountable problem: Constant and rising cyber security breaches. It seems no matter what is done, there is hacking and large amounts of money lost.

You should ensure the business identifies your venerable commercial assets and client connection points and you should develop IT systems and people checks that continuously monitor and review them, checking for abnormal behaviour and outdated computers and systems that can used to infiltrate new systems. Employees and their relationship with their departments and the organisation must also be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

There are three critical mistakes to avoid:

First, Cyber Security is not just a technology problem. It is a business-critical problem, and more importantly: It’s a people problem, and we need to address it at that level.

Second, Cyber Security and Cyber Opportunities Training and thought is not a fixed strategic and tactical issue within the organisation. The threats keep evolving and the underlying technologies change. A static check list often solves yesterday’s problems, not today’s, and certainly not tomorrow’s.

The good news is that cyber security awareness training is one of the most effective controls against hackers. Training and sensitizing people to the threats, the methods used, vulnerabilities, even their own personal privacy risks, has been proven time and again as the one thing that makes a real difference in early detection, quick response and recovery during a cyber-attack.

Having a continuous training which everyone goes through every 2/3 months will develop a culture of cyber awareness, significantly reducing cyber-attacks.

Third, Cyber Security Awareness is a constantly evolving battlefield. If your people don’t understand the threat they will not even see the attack coming, much less be able to respond and protect themselves.

Cyber security awareness training is the only way to prepare everyone for the new reality we live and work in. It is a risk management problem. This is easier to understand in regulated industries. There, the concept, language, even governance of risk management is part of the daily lexicon but in other industries and markets this needs to be individually understood, although talking with other trade bodies is a very good way forward.

Information Technology generates Value. It does so a myriad different ways depending on the business you are in, from the actual delivery of goods to clients to analysis of markets, competition reviews and client requirements. Cyber security can be seen as both a process for risk, hacking and attack reduction as well as a process for market, products and service review.

Cyber Opportunities and Digital Transformation

A better understanding of customers also helps sales to convert more prospects. Purchase history coupled with demographic and geographic data and powered by location-based and mobile marketing is game-changing for attracting new customers and retaining repeat customers.

Conducting a competitive assessment should be an ongoing process inside your organisation. This will deepen your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Every business should gather information about the market, clients and competition and some do but often if they don't analyse it into a useful competitive research process.

By analysing the markets, clients and competition your business has real focus into the competitive landscape, you should track products, services, prices, employees, research and development on an ongoing basis.

The following are potential business benefits from conducting competitive research:

Understanding the effects on international trade and agreements.
Understanding the markets that the business works within.
Focus on clients and customers.
Forecasting the potential for the market.
Understanding what competition are offering customers and talking to clients about new products and services.
Monitoring competitors' prices, sales techniques and services.
Understand the cross-over offerings from different suppliers and markets.
Finding new markets and customers.

The promise is that by gathering competitive research over time and in a systematic way you will be able to track trends and/or scenarios and be about to act on the research.

Profit from Market Research

The first decision you need to make about competitive research is whether to gather it in-house or go outside and hire a professional firm or consultant.

The benefits of hiring a consultant include that they may have more expertise in intelligence gathering and that they have probably done a lot of these analyses and they can do them in a systematic way. However, the problem of hiring an outside consultant is that sometimes it's difficult getting senior managers to engage and really listen to the results of the research.

The benefits of conducting the research in-house include that you would understand the business and what competitive factors you want to track. You would also have a constant stream of data in the firm, and managers often listen more to someone they know inside the business. However, the internal challenge is collecting competitive intelligence is a skill and you would either have to develop the talent on your own staff or hire it.

A compromise might be to hire a professional to provide an initial competitive analysis and update it every six or 12 months, while you have internal teams working and keep track of competitors on a day-to-day basis.

Digital Transformation

Conclusions and Next Steps

It is now time to begin the analysis process in the new Digital Age and really begin to get all parts of your Board, Management and Employees to engage with the process and revolutionary changes which over the months and years will commercially improve your business and its position in the markets and and its relationship with current clients.

Begin with a Board discussion and have the first piece of research begun – find out your position in the new Digital Age as it will certainly change your view of client relationships, employee engagement and understanding and it will certainly improve your market and financial position going forward.

For further research assistance please contact Cyber Security Intelligence. INQUIRIES.

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