Integrating your defence related functions - a 21st century vision

Corporate defence in the 21st century requires a more eminent role in corporate strategy. It requires a higher priority and profile within the organisation, and a more progressive and proactive approach. It requires a broader stakeholder focus, and a far more comprehensive brief. It requires a strategic re-alignment of defence related activities using both a topdown and bottom-up approach. Ultimately what is needed is a synthesised holistic solution in this area.

So how does an organisation go about addressing all of these issues? All organisations are faced with numerous potential hazards. Examples of these include litigation, fraud, compliance breaches, crime, espionage and natural disasters, to name but a few. These hazards represent not only short term financial risk but knock on reputation risk, not to mention the human implications and costs.

Ultimately all risk has a financial implication, be it on share price or otherwise. These hazards can typically be the result of deficiencies in an organisation’s corporate defence program, whereby these deficiencies were either intentionally or unintentionally exploited. Every organisation is faced with its own unique set of risks, threats and vulnerabilities and this will vary depending on corporate culture of the organisation, the business sector it operates in, and its geographic location etc. As a result, each organisation in turn will take its own unique steps to defend against these potential hazards.