In the business world, there is a lot of time wasted on trivial things. Sometimes the focus on the unimportant is maximized to monumental proportions. But always knowing what is the most important is not so easy either. But that is what you the executive is there for. You are there to prioritize, to lead to make clear what is important among other things of course.
Your job is not to spend all of your time on mundane or small issues. It is to look at the big picture and move your company forward at an effective pace.
What Is Important
So when looking at your company there are going to be many areas that need your attention. Cybersecurity is one of them. It is said that if the senior management and the board of directors are involved in cybersecurity then there is a 39% lower chance of a major cybersecurity incident. That’s pretty important. Especially when you consider that a major cybersecurity breach could cost you literally in the millions of dollars, and much more in intangible costs, things like lost supply chain relationships, and loss of prestige within your community. All important things.
To take it a bit further the European Union has just enacted a very strict set of legal requirements for anyone doing business there. It says simply that the onus of responsibility for a major breach falls on the company. Not on the police, not on the customer, not on the government, but on the corporation. That’s important. To make it even more serious they are authorized to levy fines of up to 4% of a company’s annual revenue. This is a huge cost and can reach into the tens of millions for a major infraction.
Are You Using Your Time Properly?
But then we get to the average company and the senior executives spend little time if any on cybersecurity as a major strategic part of their organization. There is going to have to be a change in focus in most companies. The focus on what next weeks sales numbers are do little good if your entire customer database is stolen. The next advertising campaign you are reviewing is going to be ineffective if your name is splattered all over the news with negative comments about how your company has mishandled information from customers employees and suppliers. Focus on the important; it will pay off in the long run.