It's being asked with increasing frequency across a variety of industries, in a variety of ways about many different elements of business operations. So, whether it's a new product launch, a new service, a merger or an acquisition that went awry because of premature exposure, a major contract that had seemed to be in the bag, there is a whole new calculus for today's security manager. Security professionals may also see an expanded role for security operations in helping their companies deal with the changing conditions of an increasingly competitive marketplace. The primary difference between these companies, for the sake of this review, is the security function. Both companies have lost out in market presence and share because they were beaten to the punch.
Senior management wants to know why and the answers seem to be in short supply.
No one is really anxious to step up to the plate and give any hard answers to hard questions because in doing so, they begin to enter potentially dangerous career waters. It's in places like these that it's sometimes well to remember the strong similarity between the Chinese characters for danger and opportunity. In this case, we'll consider that the signs point to opportunity. For this example, we'll also have both companies share similar business situations, practices and processes. They both seem to have the necessary ingredients for success in their respective business areas.