Selling data security

Big projects are easier to manage than little ones.

In the 80s, I worked at EDP, a VAX/VMS software house. We were doing a project for Yellow Pages in Israel and I was introduced to Boaz Dotan – who had just started what was later to become Amdocs, the Israeli software and services giant. Boaz told me that he had 40 programmers working on a $5M project developing billing software for ATT. I said, that’s a lot of programmers and Boaz replied: “Yes,and it is a lot easier to manage a big software project than a small project”

Many companies take an attitude that what they don’t know won’t hurt them.But it’s hard to ignore data theft these days – not after a Miami man was recently charged for stealing 130M credit card numbers.

IT often views data security technology as a tactical tool like a firewall, whereas the management board understands that a major fraud or data theft event can maim or destroy the company.  IT industry analysts like Forrester and Gartner say that data security is very important while the company’s auditors, like KPMG and PwC say that a major data loss/fraud event can maim or destroy the company.

IT and the security management should take a  leadership role in the board room instead of evaluating products.

Selling a tactical tool to the management to protect the enterprise is not a winning sales strategy. Remember what Boaz Dotan said – “big projects are easier to manage”.  Make your data security project a strategic key to reducing your company’s information Value at Risk, and you will get your budget.

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