Industry Magazine Source Security Spring 2016 | Page 8

THE ROLE OF SECURIT Y

Scott Furlotte
Scott Furlotte is a Business Psychologist and
Management Consultant with over 14 years
experience in leadership, management and
consulting for the private, public and nonprofit
sectors.

THE ROLE OF
SECURITY IN
BUSINESS GOAL

The Importance of Risk Management
BUSINESSES face risk every day they
are in operation. That risk can come from
external or from internal sources. One of
the best business decisions an owner can
make, from an organizational perspective,
is to hire a security or risk management
firm to assist in their operations. Risk
management is defined as the collective
methods used to identify, assess, and
prioritize risks and the management of
resources used to help mitigate those
risks. Risk, as defined by the standards
in ISO 31000 (a codified list of risk
management standards and best practices
outlined by the International Organization
for Standardization), are “the effect of
uncertainty on objectives”.
Within risk management, there is a
standard framework outlined by ISO 31000
which is used for risk integration. The
system itself follows three primary steps:
communication and consultation, context
and treatment, and monitoring and review.
Each of these has a unique purpose and
unique steps that must be undertaken by
the risk management team.
In the communication and consultation
phase, it is important that security
officers are able to maintain good records.
The accuracy and fidelity of the records
and reports that they keep are key to the

SPRING 2016

provision of data to the client. The data
provided helps the client make more
accurate business decisions which can
both help the business grow and protect

specific risks and make decisions, based
on context, of whether a given risk is
actually just a normal situation. Qualifying
information here would include assets, the

THE ACCURACY AND FIDELITY OF THE RECORDS
AND REPORTS THAT THEY KEEP ARE KEY TO THE
PROVISION OF DATA TO THE CLIENT
the business from potential risks that
arise during that growth.
Through monitoring and review, the
operations of security personnel are
consistently and thoroughly reviewed.
Monitoring takes place to ensure not only
that risk is being adequately mitigated
at all stages of the process, but also to
make sure that the activities the security
personnel are partaking in are related to
the goals and activities of the business
they are working for. Without regular
review, the door is open for the security
operation itself to become a risk to the
client business.
The system sandwiched between
consultation and monitoring, of course, is
the meat of the security issue. This is where
the context of the risk is established.
Security officers work to determine which
parts of the business could be dam