In Brief

The Defining Moment

Now is the time to consider what convergence isand what it isn't

By Derek Slater

As Williams says, good security is about closing the gaps between corporate functions. Anyone who thinks that convergence is a new idea or a fad hasn't been paying close attention to history. Today's corporate security department is an evolution of what used to be referred to as physical security; over time, forward-thinking practitioners demonstrated the value of putting surveillance, fraud investigations, executive protection, and an assortment of other activities (each requiring different knowledge and skills) under a single umbrella. The information security group of today represents a similar evolution of old-style IT security groups, who eventually realized that protecting just the network doesn't keep information entirely secure and that nontechnical measures (notably employee education) have to be part of the equation.

Achieving convergence, at the organizational level, will not be easy. Nor is there one right way to draw up the org chart for every company. But convergence is inevitable (see "The Convergence Momentum Theory: Why Resistance Is Futile," at left). As Williams says, "If you bring this discussion to anyone in the C-suite, they'll define convergence just the way we're talking about it. And that's the real litmus test."

We'll know we've arrived when we can just call the function "Security," with no modifiers needed.

Other stories by Derek Slater

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