Trust isn't just foundational; it's a strategic asset customers procure alongside your company's products or services. As the landscape of information security and risk management perpetually evolves, the principles guiding CISO oversight within Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (GRC), and Internal Audit have largely remained unchanged. However, a conceptual shift, known as Trust Quality, is emerging. This shift reorients our traditional approach, aligning compliance efforts with the broader goals of strategic value defense and enablement. Acknowledging the need for such repositioning is crucial for synchronizing core risk management practices with the overarching goal of delivering Trust to the market effectively.
Trust is Integral to a Company's Value Journey
Central to the success of this pivot is the recognition of Trust as a discernible product, integral to a company's Value Journey. This acknowledges that customers are investing not only in a tangible product or service but also in a relationship rooted in trust. Through governance, risk management, compliance, and internal audit, we measure and validate the processes impacting Trust Quality. These functions ensure adherence to standards, fulfilling commitments, and mitigating risks, thus emphasizing their role not just as overhead but as strategic differentiators.
In today's business environment, customers demand a standard of conduct and compliance across the supply chain, making Trust Quality a continuous expectation. Traditionally, GRC and Internal Audit have aimed to demonstrate compliance. However, they've often been perceived as barriers to agility and innovation. Redefining these functions under the Trust Quality paradigm transitions their perception from operational bottlenecks to strategic enablers that drive efficiency and add value. This transition from traditional nomenclature to Trust Quality demands a foundational shift in how organizations perceive and communicate their risk management and compliance efforts.
To internalize the importance of Trust, we should start by redefining the role of GRC and Internal Audit. These are not merely regulatory burdens but essential components of the Trust Product our customers buy. Linking Trust Quality to business outcomes allows us to directly connect it with customer satisfaction, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), and overall financial performance. By doing so, we stress that maintaining Trust Quality is a collective responsibility, transcending departmental lines and reinforcing the notion that actions are integral to achieving revenue objectives.
Driving this paradigm entails adopting an updated lexicon around Trust, viewing diligence functions through a product development lens. Creating Trust Buyer personas in Marketing and Product Development prioritizes the focus on trustworthiness—critical for organizations leveraging user stories or segmenting market spend. This proactive approach can significantly reduce audit operation costs and position Trust Quality practitioners as key enablers.
For CISOs, the journey to fully integrate Trust Quality into organizational practices will present both challenges and opportunities. It necessitates a robust, evidence-based approach to demonstrate how Trust is maintained and enhanced. In this new paradigm, CISOs evolve beyond safeguarding data and systems, championing the measurement and communication of Trust across all organizational aspects. This expanded role is vitally important in an era where Trust is not just a fundamental expectation but a competitive advantage, ensuring not just compliance but fostering enduring customer relationships and amplifying business value in our complex global landscape.
