Last year GM CEO Mary Barra referred to cybersecurity as her company’s “top priority.” *Last year GM CEO Mary Barra referred to cybersecurity as her company’s “top priority.” *What’s going on here? Isn’t their top priority making vehicles for transportation that will sell for a profit? It would sure seem that cars and trucks are the reason the people at GM get out of bed every morning. However, let’s slow down and take a look at how GM describes itself…
- GM’s purpose begins with a few simple but incredibly powerful words: We are here to earn customers for life.
- Our purpose shapes how we invest in our brands around the world to inspire passion and loyalty.
- It drives us to translate breakthrough technologies into vehicles and experiences that people love.*
Retaining customers is at the core of their daily activity and the most likely thing to scare off customers is an attack on the technology that runs their cars. Cars are now computers on wheels, and just like your PC, they can be hacked. Jeep gained notoriety a few years ago when research testers discovered they could hack into a moving Jeep through the entertainment system and shut the vehicle down. The result is that CEO’s like GM’s Barra recognize that cyber security will be the biggest threat to GM’s existence. ( And this comes from a CEO who saw a safety issue severely damage the GM brand a few years ago)
The point is, no matter how small your firm, if you use technology, your entire business is vulnerable. You may feel your top priority is providing your skills and expertise to meet your customer’s needs, but consider how a technology failure would damage your ability to do that. Make a list of all the places where technology supports or even drives your business. What would happen to your daily operations if they were damaged? What would happen to customer retention?
You may not be a multi-national firm, but you and General Motors still have a lot in common when it comes to succeeding in business. Don’t make cyber-security a second tier priority. No business can afford it.
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