Strategic Communication Proposal: Resolving Cybersecurity at GlobalSys

Assignment: Writing the Strategy Proposal

You have learned how to strategize communication in order to address different channels, contexts, audiences, and cultures to effect a change. For this assignment, you will need to utilize your understanding of these and think through how strategic communication occurs at different levels in an organization. In this assignment, you will create a proposal that outlines your strategy as a consultant for resolving a particular business communication problem involving IS (Cybersecurity). Hence, you will need to use your comprehensive understanding of communication to write a memo wherein you propose your ideas on how to best tackle the problem presented in the scenario. The scenario below involves the need for implementing a stronger cybersecurity system in a company that has local (workfloor) and global (colleagues with different cultural backgrounds working across the globe) contexts. You will write up a strategy where you develop a description of a timeline of actions to address different stakeholders through particular sequence of communication attempts (e.g. face-to-face conversation, email, video, etc.) to remedy the problem. Below, read the scenario carefully to get a sense of the stakeholders and the context for communication. Then, draft up your strategy proposal, by applying the elements you have read about in the Baker & Baker and Meyer books. Scenario: The case of cybersecurity at GlobalSys company You are an outside cybersecurity compliance officer working for Cybersecurity Solutions. You are tasked with working for a US-based client (Globalsys) to get its people on board with improving cybersecurity. GlobalSys is a US-headquartered accounting company contractor that processes payments for various companies across the globe, and GlobalSys has facilities across the globe in China, and India. You have received an email as a contractor from Roger Brooks (the CEO for GlobalSys) who says he has minimal awareness of the cybersecurity implementation but knows it needs improving. The situation, as he explains it: People are using their passwords to access their work account through mobile devices (phones, laptops, tablets) that are not work-authorized. You know this is a case of Shadow IT, but Roger seems to not be aware of this concept, while Chief Information Officer (CIO) Kanika (who deals with implementing IT policies for Globalsys) is aware. In addition, you found out that employees do not change their passwords or adhere to password security protocols as they should despite multiple requests by the system administrator (and they are not remotely aware of Shadow IT as a concept). The employees of GlobalSys are also concerned about security, but need educating a bit. Some employees say that since they can’t “see” evidence of them being hacked, the “old ways” of doing things are fine. As a result, GlobalSys now faces many security breaches of their sensitive data with potential lawsuits in the horizon. You have visited GlobalSys and spoken to Roger and his employees. In addition, you have talked with the Kanika, and system administrator Zhang Wei (who has flagged the issue with unauthorized device use with Kanika), about the situation. Roger has asked you to develop a strategy to address this problem so that employees practice good cybersecurity protocols and GlobalSys is not liable to hacks. Your task: in the guise of being a cybersecurity consultant for Cybersecurity Solutions addressing their superiors, write a strategy proposal memo where you discuss your strategy to address the situation at Globalsys where you identify the vulnerabilities, the stakeholders that you need to talk to and in what order using which communication channels (email, face-to-face conversation, etc). Also address different levels of hierarchy/company rank, culture, and their technical understanding that require you to modify and translate your message. Do NOT make up extra stuff on the client; instead, use what is described in the scenario above. Assignment: Writing the Strategy Proposal The strategy proposal is a memo where you take on the guise of an IT consultant, writing to your employer Cybersecurity Solutions (CS), to get approval from them on your proposed campaign as a reasonable course of action for the client. Make sure to address how you intend to persuade and implement the change at GlobalSys. Consider that different media are useful here to address different contexts, audiences, and cultures, and that differences in rank also play a role here (addressing a CEO is different than addressing IT professionals, etc.). In the proposal, you should cover your campaign from idea to implementation, and address audience considerations from CEO to ground floor employee, from beginning to end. The main goal of the strategy proposal is to address how you think this situation needs to be addressed, and which of the stakeholders, medium channels and intercultural concepts need to be applied and in what order to most effectively implement the change