The line between sport and business has been blurred for some time now. Sport often borrows analytical elements from corporations and manages their players like professionals, and on the other hand businesses are beginning to seek new tactical approaches already being championed by sport teams across the globe. With the Rugby World Cup 2015 in full swing, I started thinking about how businesses could take a leaf out of Warren Gatland’s winning rugby playbook, and use it to review their IT security strategy.

As an IT decision maker, the CIO should be considered as his team’s manager. It’s his job to steer the ship and have full visibility over the competition and industry as a whole. With this in mind, there are some clear areas where the CIO can focus his attention.

Study the field

In the build up to a competition such as the Rugby World Cup, every manager has got an eye on what the other teams are doing. What is their training regime? Which players are injured? Which players are on top form?

In the same way, a successful CIO is already aware that boards across the world are making cyber security a priority topic at their meetings and conversations are centred on ‘how can we do better?’ Yet, only a little over 50 percent feel like they are properly secured against cyber attacks. The only way your directors are going to know how big of an issue this is for your organisation is if you tell them. As a manager it’s important to know the field – as a CIO, you must know your risks as a company and even as an industry.

Know your performance stats

Often an exec team will hold the company’s purse strings, controlling how much money is available to invest in your IT strategy. So it’s important to be prepared with all the right stats before you approach them.  

The modern rugby game is full of player and team statistics – conversion rates, turnover rates, ball carries, and territory percentage. Having the advantage in these areas can mean the difference between winning and losing that World Cup final. Likewise, a CIO should be prepared with up to date figures. How many attacks have you had? How many breaches? How much is your company data worth? What is the industry average? Cyber crime is costing businesses in the UK £2.8million every year, and more than £288 billion globally. It’s much easier to convince your exec team to invest in IT security, when they know what’s at stake!

The best offence is a good defence

As all rugby players will know, when the opposition has the ball every man on the team becomes a defender. In terms of IT security, there are certain solutions you can introduce to bolster your defence, the most beneficial of these being Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions. They ensure you are provisioning correctly and continuously monitor your system for any variables that might signal a breach.

In business as in rugby, there is also always someone acting as a referee and watching to make sure you’re following the rules. Governance tools in an IAM solution will also help ensure your IT strategy is compliant, and make it easier for you to move past the auditor’s standard into a fully compliant organisation.

Run, pass or kick to touch?

You can bet that rugby managers on an international level will all have their fair share of playing experience. They will have learnt from their time on the pitch when it is best to keep possession, and when is best to kick for territory. Your action plan for implementation should consider the best place to invest your company’s IT budget.

Should you be spending money hiring new security professionals, investing in training current staff to be more security aware, or spending it on a solution that will monitor your system for breaches? Modern IAM solutions again, are able to help you save on overhead and streamline organisational processes.

Whether you’re looking to take your team all the way to the Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham, or elevate your company’s IT strategy – preparation and knowledge are the key to success. Real time statistics, and better analytical information can help you score that 80th minute winning try.