Note from the Publisher

When verticals BECOME horizontals

Gone are the days of business disciplines such as HR and finance being seen as exclusive functions and responsibilities of HR practitioners or financial managers and directors. Whether a CEO, MD or GM, any business thought leader driving a competitive company has sufficient knowledge of both HR and financial disciplines not only to facilitate growth and deliver ROI but also to contain business risk. IT is no different.

In fact, companies where C-suite executives are actively involved in ICT strategies – and not only understand their ICT structure, but carefully develop their IT infrastructure – directly benefit from exponential competitive advantages through IT investment and the deployment of technological applications.

The conversation is not restricted to an annual anti-virus renewal discussion with the ICT officer, but more so about reputation management. Well-executed ICT infrastructure first of all offers a secure environment – protecting confidentiality, privacy, data, intel and intellectual property – and, beyond that, distinct competitive advantages such as the ability to make fast and high-quality decisions based on intel, improved levels of customer service, improved pricing models, and improved efficiencies. Quite simply, technology has made the business environment more agile and responsive.

The speed and level of digital transformation have placed ICT and IT security at the centre of most businesses. It is therefore imperative that business leaders and decision-makers upskill themselves to understand critical security-related concepts such as payment fraud, spyware, cyberattacks, password cracking, OTI, malicious software, adware, cyberwarfare, phishing, spoofing, spamming, whaling, VPNs, firewalls, Trojan horse, attack vectors and many more.

If you are a C-level decision-maker stuck in a mindset where IT infrastructure is considered a grudge purchase and not a competitive investment, don’t be surprised to find you and your business irrelevant, sooner than expected. Join the movers and shakers by understanding and deploying ICT measures – and specifically cybersecurity – throughout every fabric of your business.

This publication offers the business leader sufficient information to engage meaningfully with your ICT officer or IT manager. Business is all about securing and managing the balance between opportunity and risk; between investment versus return; yin and yang; security versus vulnerability.

Needless to say, Covid-19 and the subsequent working-from-home business approach has disrupted businesses on a permanent level. Change facilitates opportunity, but also cultivates risk. As much as change is certain, so is cyber-risk. Cybervillains are a lot more sophisticated and often a step ahead. Critical cybersecurity has to be top of mind for all C-level decision makers.

We’ve set ourselves the goal to produce a Business Guide to Cybersecurity as a first attempt to open the communication between the IT Department or external IT supplier and the business leader/ decision-maker. IT is about much more than compliance and good corporate governance. It is also about more than just disaster recovery. We trust you will find the content within this publication useful and hope it serves as a catalyst to consolidate the verticals and horizontals within your mindset and your business strategy.

Cybersecurity is a necessity, not a luxury.

The most critical mindset shift has to be that cybersecurity is not just an IT issue, but a business concern.”