We only have to look at the cyber-attacks witnessed this year alone to gauge the importance of building resilient businesses. There will also be many businesses who have not made it into the headlines who are still reeling from the impact of a cyber-attack.
There are a number of actions you can take to build resilience in your business, but a good starting point is legal and regulatory compliance.
Why are laws and regulations important when building resilience?
Laws and regulations are in place to protect individuals and businesses. Complying with them is an opportunity to identify and improve current processes, drive better communication within teams, and test incident response mechanisms. Far too often it is treated as a tick box exercise in the hope that it won't happen to you; but what if it does, and you find yourself having to explain your processes or lack of process to a regulator or tell your customers you failed to keep their data safe?
What are the consequences of not aligning legal and regulatory requirements in your business?
- Regulatory fines
- Reputational damage
- Loss of customer confidence and contracts
What steps can you take to stay ahead?
- Identify which laws, regulations and industry standards apply to your business
- Conduct audits or assessments to highlight any gaps
- Train employees on best practice such as data protection
- Make sure your policies align with your obligations and are communicated to all relevant stakeholders
- Create, test and continuously improve incident response plans
What are the benefits of aligning legal and regulatory requirements to your business and cyber strategy?
- Customer trust
- Business integrity
- Stakeholder confidence
- Enhanced reputation
A great place to start is to put a governance framework in place. This can provide both a strategic and operational platform for your business. It provides board level oversight as well as a structured set of rules, processes, and controls that guide how a business is run, so that operations are not only efficient, but also aligned with regulatory standards. It ensures that your business consistently adheres to the latest industry standards, minimising the risk of non-compliance. Governance standards you may be familiar with are ISO 27001, or the IASME Cyber Assurance Standard, and there are many more. We have worked with many businesses in different sectors to implement governance frameworks.
If you would like to speak with us about how we can help your business, contact us for a free consultation
