Email Security Intelligence - The Importance of Business Process Management in Cybersecurity

Business process management (BPM) is a specialty that combines several methods to improve and optimize business processes and is key to aligning information technology and operational technology investments to business strategy. IT systems are used for data-centric computing, OT systems monitor events, processes, and devices, and make adjustments in enterprise and industrial operations.

Business processes coordinate the behavior of staff, systems, and information to create outcomes that support the business strategy. Processes are designed in one of two ways: structured and repeatable, or unstructured and variable. With online businesses increasing, BPM's traditional focus has shifted from back-end processes to also include the optimization of engagement of customer and employee systems. This article will define business process management further and discuss the benefits of BPM as a cybersecurity tool.

BPM and Cybersecurity

A business process is made up of several steps executed by a set of stakeholders to achieve certain goals. Each individual step within a business process represents a task assigned to a participant. It is considered a building block for several interconnected ideas such as business process management. Business process management aims at efficiently creating business value. However, there are a number of threats that process managers need to consider. Security threats such as malware, or data breach pose significant dangers to the reliable execution of business processes. 

Information security - which protects sensitive information from unauthorized activities, modification, and any disruption or destruction - is of utmost importance in business process management. Rarely are pre-existing solutions for managing the business processes of an organization taken into consideration and when they are, it always relies on third-party tools and organizations. 

These may have negative effects on the company’s value or reputation. Recent ransomware attacks have proven professional e-business environments have vulnerabilities when large amounts of critical data were encrypted, such as the 2017 spread of Petya which resulted in losses of over $8.7 billion dollars alone. Additionally, hackers may have a massive economic impact on companies due to the cost of theft, the cost of recovery and business value loss, and the damage to reputation and confidence.

Process managers have to design business processes to guarantee they fit the security policy of the company. The challenge is bringing about effective business processes that coincide with business strategy. Because process managers are not typically BPM security experts, the integration of security safeguards into the process models is neglected.

Cybersecurity is the key to modern, digital business processes. Mastering the complexity of the entire field of action requires best practices and the proper tools. The first step toward greater IT security starts by adopting strong methods from business process management and considering cybersecurity a business process.

What Does A BPM System Do + Best Features

A business process management system promotes modeling, design, execution, and maintenance of activities as well as the employees that manage them. A BPM solution is created with the intention of helping businesses optimize everyday processes for maximum efficiency and productivity. Having a BPM system in place helps in creating complex processes that span across multiple departments and locations, monitors and maintains said processes for optimal efficiency, and modifies existing approaches to encourage changes as the organization grows. 

In relation to cybersecurity, integrating a BPM helps organizations implement a process for everything ranging from network security to securing IoT devices. Some of the best features of a BPM system include:

• Facilitates Information: gathers information concerning the security of the organization including the impact of vulnerabilities, the possibility of an incident occurring, ranking corporate risk, and prioritizing security improvements.
• Executive Dashboards: a software tool that allows executives to view the status and progress of achieving strategic objectives. An intuitive dashboard offers businesses complete visibility into the security of their email and the threats targeting their organization.
• Role-Based Access Control: sensitive data in your form can be protected with BPM system, though access might include making an editable field, read-only, or completely hidden.
• Mobile Support: business processes will increasingly get more mobile and users will have little tolerance for applications they can only access from a desk. Instead, consider a cloud BPM system that offers complete functionality for mobile users.
• Single Sign-On (SSO): single sign-on may be a mandatory feature for any new software based on your IT policies. SSO only requires one set of credentials across multiple software platforms, which helps IT teams grant access and track activity.

Why Business Process Management Is Critical

Business process management is important because effective business processes are critical to success. Developing and making a new product, fulfilling a product order, managing customer service, and assimilating a new employee are just a few examples of processes that help companies drive business goals.

In contrast, business processes that are left unorganized and not arranged in accordance with a definite plan can lead to havoc including more errors, increased blame, lack of data, and demoralized employees. At an individual level, people tend to only see one part of the process, and very few see the full effects of a process, where it starts and ends, necessary key data, and where inefficiencies lie.

Most business process management systems will be able to incorporate elements of each of these, but each one will usually have one specialty.

The Bottom Line

A business process is an activity or set of activities that help accomplish the goals of an organization. BPM solutions can help organizations integrate data security and authorization processes into user operations as it helps assist with cooperation between security and business teams by assessing vulnerabilities as well as deploying secure processes and systems. Additionally, when successfully implemented, employees and executives will better understand how they contribute to achieving goals. This creates the cycle of a happier and more productive workforce, which results in happier customers, higher revenues, and lower costs.