BISOs: The Bridge Between Business and Security Programs

Jay Reid, Kristin Zwirkoski
| 7/8/2025
Two professionals collaborate on a computer, discussing how BISOs enhance security and align business goals in an office setting.

Business information security officers (BISOs) can help organizations take a strategic, collaborative, and integrated approach to security.

Advancing a cybersecurity program is often an uphill climb, especially when the path forward is unclear and the business value is hard to prove. Too often, the divide between the security team and the business leads to friction, disengagement, or worse: active resistance. Security leaders might find themselves reactively firefighting instead of proactively managing risk, unable to make meaningful progress.

But it doesn’t have to stay that way. When security and business teams work in tandem, both sides can reach new heights. The key lies in forging a shared path that aligns risk reduction and regulatory compliance with operational goals. While the current terrain for many chief information security officers (CISOs) is rocky, a more strategic and integrated approach is within reach.

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Off trail: What happens without direction

Hiking an unmarked trail is risky. The same holds true for security programs without a clear path. Progress is possible, but it’s hard to sustain while juggling shifting priorities and limited resources.

Security leaders often face competing demands: operational fires, talent churn, tool sprawl, and fragmented processes. Without a unified strategy and consistent business alignment, programs stall. Trust breaks down, and momentum slips.

To chart a better path forward, organizations must identify and address the common obstacles that slow progress and prevent security from functioning as a business enabler.

Pain points along the path

Most security programs could benefit from more budget and resources. But organizations must consider other factors that might be throwing them off the trail. Five common pain points include CISO turnover, program recycling, siloed efforts, low adoption, and lack of executive support.

  • CISO turnover. CISO roles remain high-stress positions with short tenure. In fact, the average CISO lasts just 18 to 26 months in a role. One-quarter might leave the profession, and over half remain open to new roles due to burnout, expectations, and fear of repercussions after security incidents. Turnover at the top often triggers a cascade of instability across security leadership.
  • Program recycling. New leaders frequently inherit undocumented or fragmented programs and are forced to rebuild with little or no coherence. The result is redundant efforts and lost institutional knowledge. Without documentation and continuity, programs never reach maturity. They’re restarted, not evolved.
  • Siloed efforts. Decentralized and inconsistent cybersecurity practices lead to disconnected efforts. Without a unified strategy, teams develop their own processes based on experience, which can conflict with rather than complement the program overall. This fragmentation prevents holistic risk management and hinders operational efficiency. This challenge has sparked an emerging trend and a need for centralized guidance and decentralized execution.
  • Low adoption. Even the best cyber governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) technology platforms and frameworks can fail in the absence of adequate stakeholder adoption. If stakeholders aren’t aware of which tools to use, trained to use them, or motivated to follow protocols, cyber GRC tools gather dust. Adoption challenges also delay overall program transformation and widen the gap between business and security teams.
  • Lack of executive support. Each of these pain points compounds the next. When security is perceived as reactive, disjointed, or opaque, business leaders disengage. Trust takes time to build – but only moments to lose. Without buy-in from leadership, security becomes perceived as an operational challenge rather than a business enabler.

Trail tips: Shifting security’s posture

To reach higher ground, security leaders must reorient the way they operate strategically, relationally, and operationally. Following are five strategies leaders can take to regain footing and build lasting impact.

Connect security to the business

Most major companies have a CISO in place, but far fewer have embraced the BISO, a role designed to embed security into the business, not just beside it. BISOs provide significant value because of their combined deep understanding of a business area’s operations and how security should be appropriately applied to that business area. In short, BISOs can serve as a bridge between security and the business.

BISOs can work within business units to:

  • Understand operational priorities and high-impact functions
  • Identify threats relevant to the specific environment
  • Connect past incidents to present needs
  • Interpret regulatory requirements in a business context

By embedding directly in the business, BISOs can translate risk into language that resonates with executives. From a business resiliency standpoint, they can also help identify upstream and downstream dependencies critical to operations. Even without an established BISO role, assigning a security leader with a strong focus on business operations to function as a liaison can help the security team collaborate more effectively throughout the business.

Gain stakeholder buy-in, early and often

The journey begins with establishing credibility. Business stakeholders often view security as an obstacle to getting work done. However, BISOs can help shift that perception by building trust and showing how a strong security posture can protect business outcomes. They can flip the usual narrative by:

  • Meeting regularly with business stakeholders
  • Understanding operational concerns
  • Validating business goals and adjusting security controls accordingly
  • Highlighting how security enables business priorities

Taking these steps can help nurture mutual interests and improve alignment across the organization. Meeting consistently with business leaders allows security to stay relevant and responsive to changing needs. Trust, once built, creates momentum for cultural change.

Establish a consistent operating model

Trust grows through repeatable processes and shared understanding. A clearly defined operating model helps security teams scale while creating continuity across leaders and teams.

A consistent framework should include:

  • Clear delineation of roles and responsibilities for the BISOs and their interactions with business and security leaders
  • A standard method for advancing security into new business units
  • Documentation of the configuration management database and the common services data model supporting the business unit
  • Specific processes for assessing critical functions
  • Defined escalation and incident response workflows
  • Regular review cycles for risk and control mapping
  • A road map for expanding and strengthening control coverage over time

Such a framework offers a repeatable methodology that allows teams to respond quickly and avoid reinventing core elements when personnel change.

Create an operational calendar to guide the climb

An operational calendar supports long-term consistency, resilience, and transparency. Unlike personal work calendars, this road map tracks major security activities and milestones across the organization.

This calendar should include:

  • Key risk assessments, vulnerability scans, and program reviews
  • Recurring meetings with stakeholders to maintain alignment
  • On-site visits to assess security posture and document findings
  • Surveys, interviews, or feedback loops to gather input
  • Communication checkpoints that align with enterprise timelines

The operational calendar acts as a living document, and regular updates can help ensure its relevance. During transitions, this calendar can become a record of progress that enables new leaders to pick up the trail instead of starting over.

Use GRC tools to accelerate program maturity

Modern GRC platforms provide scale and structure, but only if they’re well implemented and consistently used. When integrated effectively, they help security teams prioritize and automate key processes.

Teams should focus on:

  • Centralizing access to data and documentation
  • Automating repeatable workflows like risk reviews and policy updates
  • Enabling dashboards for real-time monitoring and decision support
  • Training users to engage with tools confidently and consistently

GRC technology alone won’t mature a program. However, when paired with clear processes and adoption strategies, it can serve as a powerful force multiplier.

Summiting together

Security should no longer be viewed as a drag on innovation or an isolated cost center. With the right strategy, structure, and stakeholder relationships, business and security teams can scale to new heights and help the organization reach its goals while reducing risk.

The BISO role, operational calendars, and a scalable, well-implemented GRC technology platform are just a few ways to traverse this terrain, but the destination is the same: embedded, business-aligned security that enables transformation.

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Angie Hipsher - Large
Angie Hipsher-Williams
Managing Principal, Cyber Consulting
Josh Reid
Josh Reid
Principal, Cyber Consulting