Unisys IT Optimization & Governance

Security has never been a higher priority for CIOs and the organizations they lead. Consider the following:

There were 237 million security attacks worldwide in the first half of 2005.
Security vulnerabilities have increased 500 percent in the last 5 years.
2.4 million online consumers reported losing money because of phishing attacks.

One successful cyber attack could do incalculable damage to your organization.

Still it’s an exciting time to be a CIO or CTO. Powerful new enabling technologies – from service-oriented architecture (SOA) and open source, to RFID and biometrics, to virtualized servers and self-monitoring technology – promise to transform the way global businesses operate

But only if a well designed, effectively managed IT infrastructure serves as the foundation for secure business operations.

It’s time to re-think security and risk management and to transform into a secure business operation. Business needs to see gaps and anticipate disruptions that can prevent successful and cost-effective execution and have the visibility to spot new opportunities and make unexpected breakthroughs.

Business Impact

Secure business operations are as much about optimizing IT performance and adding business value as they are about advanced identity management and locking down databases. Within an IT context, secure business operations are those that:

Establish rigorous governance models for IT management.
Protect users, data, and systems from the full range of cyberthreats.
Operate from low-cost, high-performance environments, with the highest levels of reliability, availability, and standardization.
Continually drive value from legacy systems and data repositories through SOA.
Have flexible infrastructure that can dynamically allocate resources to support demand spikes or new user groups.

2-way Visibility

Secure business operations start with 2-way visibility achieved through modeling and blueprinting. This allows companies to discover not only inefficiencies and potential security gaps but also startling new opportunities and underutilized assets. It enables proactive risk management, too, so you can predict and manage both opportunities and risks, make better decisions, and take action if (and when) something does go wrong.

Even more valuably, blueprints can provide IT and business a common ground for collaborating and aligning IT assets to business needs “translators”— between process definitions and specific IT requirements, like governance policies, SLAs, and even support and maintenance programs. This type of communication and insight pays off in shorter implementation timelines and lower risk – especially important considerations for organizations seeking to leverage new, “creatively disruptive” technologies like SOA, RFID, or advanced analytics.

Market leaders and IT innovators have already re-thought security in the context of secure business operations and they see it not as a sunk cost or necessary evil but as a competitive asset. Security doesn’t lock you down; it sets you free to add more value to the organization.

Benefits for Executives

That’s what secure business operations can do. But what do they mean to executives?

Gaining – and keeping – Wall Street’s confidence and the trust of consumers.
Leveraging enabling technologies more effectively.
Evolving to a highly flexible, real-time infrastructure.
Synching up with the business on strategic, high-value initiatives.
Not worrying about hidden vulnerabilities or being caught unaware.

Enterprise Security Solutions