"Rede Consulting Empowers its Clients with ServiceNow Transformation"
ServiceNow GRC is a fantastic platform for automating the processes of IT compliance, audit, and risk groups within a company. It ably supports the concepts of “integrated risk management” and “continuous compliance” in an efficient system where multiple department functions can seamlessly interact in co-dependent fashion while giving each department autonomy of their own workflows.
For any major implementation project, it’s essential to have executive buy-in. This isn’t just about getting a new tool, it’s a transformation of your security and compliance processes, and for that you need upper management on your side. The best way to achieve this is to focus on the problems ServiceNow GRC and Security Operations are going to solve and the money you can save.
Since security and compliance affect all areas of the business, you are also going to have a lot of stakeholders. Each department has individual security requirements, and they probably already have tools and processes in place that they’re accustomed to. Make sure you communicate with stakeholders across the organization to learn exactly what your implementation needs to accomplish for them.
While you may have a wide variety of people involved in the planning, implementation, and testing process, not every user needs access to every ServiceNow function. User roles allow you to grant each user exactly the visibility and control they need to do his or her job.
## Define Your Goals
Chances are, you were motivated to implement ServiceNow GRC and Security Operations by specific pain points or concerns.
(+) What do you hope the software will accomplish?
(+) Which of your goals are the most business-critical?
(+) Start from there and work backwards. For example, which security regulations does your business need to comply with?
(+) Which existing security tools would you like to integrate and streamline?
Start small and build toward continuous monitoring and response to business risks. In addition to your goals and desired outcomes, don’t forget to determine how you will measure success. The ROI of cybersecurity software is notoriously hard to quantify, since you can’t be sure what might have happened to your organization if you weren’t taking a proactive approach to security. However, there are metrics you can monitor, such as the number of incidents detected or the average response time.
## Configure ServiceNow to Your Unique Needs
ServiceNow works for your business, monitoring the factors that are important to you, prioritizing incidents based on impact, and responding to incidents and risks in a way that makes sense for you.
Implementing ServiceNow GRC or SecOps means defining business rules, policies, and priorities. This can be highly individualized—for example, you might apply a certain standard to just one department and another to the entire company. This will involve asking questions like:
(+) What SLAs need to be met?
(+) Who are your critical vendors?
(+) Which policies and standards apply to which parts of the business?
(+) What is the likely impact of each risk?
(+) Who is the right person to respond to an issue—or can the response be automated?
For each decision, make sure you can rationalize it in terms of business impact.
(+) Does it actually address a known risk or regulation?
(+) Is there a way to do it more simply?
(+) You may be able to consolidate many controls due to audit requirements being similar for different regulations. Most organizations make the mistake of treating each regulation as a completely separate set of controls.
##Communication and Training
Even before you get started, lay the groundwork for positive communication by letting the relevant teams know who will be impacted, when they can expect the changes to happen, and how the changes will ultimately improve their jobs.
As the rollout progresses, make sure training is provided to everyone who will be working with the new solution. Training isn’t just about ensuring that employees have the necessary skills. Helping your teams understand the solution and its many benefits is key to achieving acceptance of the project across the organization.
##Keep the Momentum Going
The security landscape is always changing and so should your organization’s GRC and SecOps strategy. Have a plan in place to periodically reevaluate your ServiceNow configuration. In addition to updated policies, controls, and priorities, see if your current processes have any unnecessary redundancies.
Ready to get started with ServiceNow GRC and Security Operations?
Talk to our ServiceNow GRC expert. Mail us at info@rede-consulting.com now.