Governance, Risk Management, Compliance (GRC). Usually it is no fun having to document, train, and enforce GRC. But you should really think of it like a racetrack, and we want the business to go at lightning speed and win! So creating guardrails, allows the racecar to go fast, while keeping it from going off the rails or off the side of a cliff. With some innovative thinking, you can keep governance streamlined and helpful, by remembering the “heart” of the rule, and implementing it in the lightest and most efficient way possible. But like the “pit crew” does, you want to consitently give it “tune ups”, so it runs optimally without getting bogged down or broken.

Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR). After 2020, so much changed as the acceleration to cloud happened quickly. Through the rapid changes, it provided plenty of chances to test real world examples of business continuity in the midst of shutdowns, supply chain disruptions, and evolving workforce needs. In some ways, this shifted a lot of resiiciency efforts from in-house staff to third party cloud providers. But it still required planning and ensuring that BC and DR plans were modified with each of the new developments. Divestitures, Mergers and Acquisitions complicated things even further. But being flexible, with more “Just-in-time” documentation and planning, allowed for whatever quick pivots were needed to keep the business stable and prepared.

Due Diligence and Risk Analysis - both vendor / supply chain and client requests. Through various Private Equity (PE) changes with the divestiture and an additional ownership change, various due diligence was needed from IT. In additional to helping to provide that, we also complete the necessary due diligence on our own vendors to ensure they are a secure part of our tools and infrastructure.

Risk analysis will help as you evaluate new tools, and build out a strong stack of cyber-security tools, staff, and vendors.

IT / Business Alignment and decision making. As more business are relying on technology to give them competitive advantages, it is important to make sure that IT is aligned to clear company objectives. And because things change so rapidly and there may be needs to quickly jump on a market opportunity, it is important to be intentional about spending time doing strategic thinking and innovation. When the list of needs and wants put on the IT department can be long, make sure that beyond covering the basics of “run and maintain”, you are carving out time to take a step back for creativity.

Organizational Change Management and Resilience Change is hard and can lead to uncertainty, confusion, and weariness, if not managed well. But because change and agility is unavoidable, giving the organization skills and tools to be more resilient is essential. Training and encouragement is an important element to help the organization adapt. And it is also critical to explain why there is a business need for the change. While also recognizing the human component and helping people understand the career development and other benefits it can bring on a personal level.

IT Team and Personal Resilience. Coaching and Mentoring is a great way to build your IT Team. There are various ways to maximize training in ways that last beyond just a simple course. Skills can be created and strengthened in way that accelerates professional development - using combinations of classes, team learning and cross-training, with on-the-job experience. Understanding the motivation, engagement, well-being of your staff will help as you navigate difficulties and personal growth opportunities. Having a toolkit of negotiation strategies also allows you to create objectives and goals to provide a light at the end of the tunnel through times of change and personal development.