3 reasons why you need a security consultant

Having good security practices, backed up by a knowledgeable & well trained staff delivers genuine value to your business. Having this security culture embedded in your organisation to the point at which you have a smooth risk management approach takes this a stage further and will enable your business to develop and grow while ensuring that your security is always the most cost effective mechanism available.

The case for security is made.

Now you need to work out how to best take advantage of the value you can get from good security which leads us to our top 3 reasons to engage a security consultant:

3 Reasons why you should hire a security consultant

Independent Advice

Security is important and the security advice you get should always be impartial and independent of any vendor bias or organisational power struggles. One of the more frequent security discussions is who should the head of security report to – is it an operational issue, is it finance or what? Allowing your security advice to be influenced by departmental issues can prove to be fatal.

By establishing a partnership with a trustworthy security consultant you are able to bring in expert advice which crosses your institutional boundaries and is free from the pressures that can arise when security reports to a particular department.

We would also always recommend you seek out vendor-independent security advisers to ensure that you are getting advice that is most suitable for you rather than advice which fits the adviser’s relationship.

Reassure customers and win new business

Bringing in external expert advice sends an excellent signal out to your customers, clients and business partners and is a clear statement that you take security seriously.

While this is often essential after a breach, when you are trying to win customer confidence back, it is much more cost effective to be pro-active and get the advice while you are able to avert disaster.

By engaging the services of a security consultant to review your existing processes you are not only able to reassure your existing customers about your (and their) security, but you can use this to win new business. One frequent example is if you are tendering a contract that has robust security provisions (e.g. government work, data protection act issues, Sarbanes-Oxley [SOX] regulations etc), then showing that you take the security concerns seriously enough to engage expert advice can make the difference between winning and losing new business.

Cost effective – saves YOU money

Good consultants aren’t cheap – nor should they be. But in the same way, hiring, training and retaining good security staff is very, very expensive. When you add in the difficulties ensuring that your staff stay current with evolving trends as well as trying to ensure that they get exposure to international good practice so they can provide the best possible advice and it quickly becomes an expensive proposition.

A more cost effective approach is to utilise the services of a security consultant so that you can have access to top quality security knowledge and advice when you need it and only when you need it.  Even when you have your own security team, you can utilise a good security consultant to supplement and enhance their knowledge and abilities in a cost effective manner.

Engaging with a security consultant allows you to establish the costs of your project upfront and allows you to quickly and easily identify the value that you will gain from the relationship. You can establish boundaries in advance and ensure that you get exactly the service you need.

Hiring a security consultant is good for your business

There are dozens of reasons why you should hire a security consultant, and around the world thousands of organisations do this every day. We have kept this list short only for brevity’s sake and picked the three most common themes our clients have stated as being their reason for engaging expert consultancy advice from Halkyn Consulting.

You may be able to come up with other excellent reasons and they are all just as good – what matters is what is important for your organisation or business and making sure that you get the most cost effective security possible.

The most important lesson is to make sure that you arent hindering your growth, or putting your enterprise at risk, by imagining reasons to not hire a consultant.

There is no time like the present. Take action to improve your condition today.

Taz Wake - Halkyn Security

Certified Information Systems Security Professional with over 19 years experience providing in-depth security risk management advice to government and private sector organisations. Experienced in assessing risks, and producing mitigation plans, worldwide in both peaceful areas and war zones. Additionally, direct experience carrying out investigations into security lapses, producing evidential standard reports and conducting detailed interviews to ascertain the details of the incident. Has a detailed understanding of the Security Policy Framework (SPF) and JSP440, as well as in depth expertise in producing cost-effective solutions in accordance with legislative and regulatory guidelines. Experienced in accrediting establishments and networks as well as project managing the development of secure, compliant, workable business processes.