Testing the Consumer ◾ 51
consumer metrics is part of the competitive landscape. There are many challenges as com-
panies must integrate customer data across multiple sales channels, like brick and mortar,
e-commerce, catalogs, and telephones into one unified view of the customer. Another func-
tion that has developed is the use of “customer hubs.” Customer hubs allow companies
to combine data cleansing, matching, and management with integrated stewardship and
administration. Further exacerbating these challenges is the constant restructuring and stra-
tegic mergers of companies, which combine and recombine different service groups with
multiple information systems and datasets, while creating constant changes in operational
processes. One of our colleagues was recently talking with someone involved in the early
days of Starbucks’ CRM implementation about the challenges he had to overcome in order
to produce usable data from multiple sources and databases; data that eventually made its
way into executive reports and that ultimately impacted Starbucks’ stock price.
Despite these challenges, the demand for better use of consumer data is increasing. Good con-
sumer data-management practices require a strong infrastructure of support, including network,
storage, data backup, communications linkages, and high-speed connectivity. As the technology
shifts toward better collection of data, so do the staff technology skill requirements and abilities to
manage the data. It’s important to adhere to the information management basics, notably:
Identify existing and potential issues in managing consumer information. ◾
Defi ne the method of consumer information fl ow. ◾
Develop and retain people with skills in information technology. ◾
Integrate legacy enterprise applications with the front end of the information management ◾
system.
Evaluate and redesign functional activities on value added to consumer. ◾
Align performance metrics to redesigned processes. ◾
Align metrics with specifi c individual RAA (responsibilities, authority, and accountability) ◾
for monitoring.
e goal of designing strong infrastructure, training staff , and aligning metrics is, of course,
to enable, align, and motivate internal customers and to create a customer-centric approach in
all organizational processes. As with any strategic initiative that requires major change, it is the
employee frontline that will put the strategy into eff ective action. It is management’s job to provide
the leadership, infrastructure, and training required to move the organization toward success.
Although IT leaders seem to be the ones leading the metrics charge in the defi nition of secu-
rity metrics databases, we contend that this should be an interdisciplinary eff ort between both IT
and physical security elements. Metrics should be developed for all aspects of security from IT
security to the various physical security elements such as investigations, workplace violence, emer-
gency notifi cation, emergency response, disaster preparedness, business continuity, supply chain
security, and incident reporting of various types; metrics that refl ect the needs of local and global
security constituencies and their various stakeholders.
A discussion in “ e Metrics Quest,” an article written in the November 2004 CSO Security
Leader newsletter by an anonymous security executive, cited the following lessons learned:
Engage your internal business unit clients in identifying one or two metrics vital to their ◾
success. Consider loss reduction (be specifi c), cost reductions, shorter cycle times, use of
technology versus use of people, elimination of vulnerabilities that impact uptime, reliabil-
ity, and so on.
TAF-K11348-10-0301-C003.indd 51TAF-K11348-10-0301-C003.indd 51 8/18/10 3:03:09 PM8/18/10 3:03:09 PM
52 ◾ Security Strategy: From Requirements to Reality
Recognize that risk analysis is a must. If you aren’t doing risk analysis, we assume you are ◾
looking for a job. ese projects off er a potential wealth of metrics and bolster your recom-
mendations to corporate leaders.
Identify incident trends important to key senior managers. Track changes monthly or quar- ◾
terly. Focus on what’s important in your business. Consider safety violations, workplace
violence, public safety, emergency medical technician response times, issues that invite regu-
latory sanctions, losses as a percentage of sales, number of employees who are subjects of
business-conduct investigations.
Develop a few value indicators that you can track with a high degree of reliability. Candidates: ◾
security’s cost per employee, cost as a percentage of sales or revenue, property protection cost
per square foot of occupied space, case cost versus recovery cost, and case cost over time.
Also, do some services cost benchmarking with your peers. ese metrics tend to be more
comparative in nature, so make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
Set up a security council to develop metrics goals if security functions are spread among ◾
various departments.
Develop a couple of confi dence indicators, such as annual customer satisfaction surveys ◾
posted on your corporate intranet. Or track business process improvement recommenda-
tions, made in incident postmortems, to see which are accepted and which are rejected.
Build your annual business plan around two or three “reach objectives” that have at their ◾
heart a specifi c measurement such as “in the next fi scal year, reduce background investiga-
tion cycle time by 15% and case cost by 5%.”
Lastly, keep it simple and check your numbers. ◾
e bottom line for developing metrics is that you must develop metrics that matter to your
customers. Obviously, the top tier of customers you must satisfy are the C-Suite executives, and
knowledge of what matters most to them should fi gure strongly in creating security metrics that
are meaningful to everyone in your company.
Conclusion
Gone are the days when service and governance groups could settle for little or no measures of
consumer or customer satisfaction. Today’s business and economic realities demand that groups go
beyond measuring a baseline of “customer satisfaction” made of ill-defi ned, poorly administered,
and limited evaluations of customer data. In the Internet Age of “click-the-button” expectations,
security must also collect consumer data in an eff ective and a timely manner. Quick response and
satisfaction of consumer needs are now basic. Today, a drop in customer satisfaction indicates a
loss of confi dence by the customer in the organization and leads to a subsequent gain for your
competitor. Anticipating and understanding consumer needs and designing your security services
to “delight the customer” are now part of your job. Keeping your customer in mind in everything
you do is now “job one.” As enterprises move toward increasing customer-centric business models,
it becomes increasingly imperative for security that all groups in the security group be involved
and aligned in customer-centric strategies.
TAF-K11348-10-0301-C003.indd 52TAF-K11348-10-0301-C003.indd 52 8/18/10 3:03:09 PM8/18/10 3:03:09 PM
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.