When a company is considering a risky strategy, it is important to ensure efficient internal communication. For the security specialist, it is crucial to evaluate the proposal personally. They have to conduct a full threat assessment and present the report to the management before any decisions are made. But it is also important to evaluate how much the company stands to benefit from the project. The security manager has to communicate with the team which proposed the idea. He needs to understand what they want to achieve. After they weigh the pros and cons of the project, the specialist has to submit the recommendation for the management and be ready to defend his opinion when the discussion starts. The security manager must both express his own opinion and ensure that both sides understand each other. That can generally help overcome the potential risks and ensure that the right decision is made. I know of a company that has failed to implement the updated security protocol after the security team failed to communicate the importance of the changes and the other employees protested the banning of certain applications. The breach resulted in the company network getting infected with a virus and valuable customer data leaking to the Internet.
Generally speaking, the implementation plan should be similar to all other strategies. Initial assessment, developing the implementation schedule, training the personnel, and preparing for contingencies are important both for the new technologies and the tested ones. However, additional precautions should be taken when dealing with experimental projects. Since it is impossible to review the common risks of the new technology, the security specialist has to handle the potential risks without any guidelines. This requires additional attention to the risk assessment. It is also a good idea to launch a pilot operation before the new project is fully implemented. The test can ensure that the technology works as intended and fits into the overall company strategy. The study on medical imaging conducted in 2011 underlines the importance of data-driven objective analysis. The researcher states that careful assessment is key to the successful innovation (Reiner, 2011).
The biggest advantage of the early adoption is pretty obvious – the company willing to take the risk has an opportunity to get a huge competitive advantage. New technology frees up resources and optimizes the workflow in unique ways allowing for more efficient operation compared to the competitors. In 2013, Arizona State University was one of the first educational institutions to adopt Knewton’s Adaptive Learning Program. The innovative application automatically customizes student assignments and tracks their progress. The university claims that the system has allowed them to free up the much-needed workforce which underlines the advantages of the early adoption (Asher-Shapiro, 2013a). Undoubtedly, the untested applications are associated with unknown risks. Unexpected security breaches and the need for extensive staff training are the obvious disadvantages of the experimental technologies. The launch of Windows Vista in 2006 is a good example. Many companies jumped on the opportunity only to find the new OS buggy and lacking proper security (Asher-Shapiro, 2013b).
Grassroots adoption of the new technologies is inevitable. New consumer products are constantly being developed, and the employees inevitably integrate them into the workflow in one way or another. They can use company PCs to run new pieces of software or use devices they own to conduct business communication. These developments can have a positive effect on the company. People generally adopt the technologies which are comfortable for them. That means that by working with new products, the employees become more productive, and their work satisfaction can also increase. The study by TNS has revealed that the emergence of smartphones had a positive effect on the employee productivity. The use of mobile devices has allowed the workers to conduct business at home and on the go more efficiently. For the achievement-focused corporate employees, these benefits outweigh following the company rules (Tennant, 2015). This example shows that while the problems with grassroots adoption are evident, the benefits are also sizeable.
When the company employees insist on using new mobile apps or programs, the situation can be hard to handle. Once the workers see the benefits of the new technology, they rarely stop to think about the risks. As with other security concerns, the communication is extremely important in this situation. Instead of threatening the employees with sanctions, the managers should try to relate the possible impact of the new technology. Since this course of action is unlikely to deter all adopters, the security team also has to work to stall for time. Banning the use of the new technology and monitoring the employees for violations is a reasonable approach once the necessity of these actions has been explained. It is important to communicate that the measures are temporary, and the new technology will be implemented once it no longer presents a risk for the company. After the risk assessment is complete, the company can often figure out ways to implement the new technology in an efficient and secure way. The same study by TNS shows that many of the smartphone-related security breaches can be resolved by using the producer-provided encryption software (Tennant, 2015). This solution is affordable, easy to implement and would not severely inconvenience the smartphone users. If the employees are properly educated on the necessity of these measures, the resistance to the company control can be brought to a minimum.
References
Asher-Shapiro, A. (2013a). The benefits of early technology adoption. Web.
Asher-Shapiro, A. (2013b). The drawbacks of adopting technology too early. Web.
Reiner, B. (2011). Optimizing Technology Development and Adoption in Medical Imaging Using the Principles of Innovation Diffusion, Part I: Theoretical, Historical, and Contemporary Considerations. Journal Of Digital Imaging, 24(5), 750-753.
Tennant, D. (2015). Study by Dell, Intel Sheds Light on Employees’ Technology Adoption, Expectations.ITBusinessEdge. Web.