BAE SYSTEMS @DAVOS: HYPERCONNECTIVITY AND CYBER RESILIENCE ON THE WORLD STAGE

Chairman Dick Olver discusses opportunities and challenges related to the future workforce and Detica Managing Director Martin Sutherland helps examines global cybersecurity issues

25-1-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — Today’s new era of hyperconnectivity offers organizations important opportunities to grow, innovate and thrive by allowing employees to share their creativity without regard to borders and location. However, this global connectivity also requires organizations to manage unprecedented volumes of data and diligently protect its network and information.

BAE Systems takes on these topics this week – returning to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum (WEF), the preeminent stage for world leaders to shape global, regional and industry agendas. BAE Systems is one of 1,000 member companies that support the 42-year-old non-profit, which has become a platform to discuss economic and social issues and resolve political differences.

“In today’s interconnected, competitive and high-speed global environment, cybersecurity needs to be looked at in a new paradigm – one of risk and resiliency; not defensive compliance,” said Detica Managing Director Martin Sutherland. “Companies like BAE Systems all have a role to play in contributing to an open, secure and resilient online space. No single organization can overcome the problem; it has to be a concerted effort across the private and public sector.”

BAE Systems has joined a powerful consortium of multi-national businesses as part of the WEF’s Partnership for Cyber Resilience, whose mission is “to improve cyber resilience, raise business standards and to contribute to a safer and stronger connected society.” This week BAE Systems is at Davos to share in the discussion about cyber resilience and consider key cyber recommendations to WEF member companies, including:

•    Asking company Boards and C-Suite leaders to commit to understanding their organizations’ cyber risk and readiness, and;
•    incorporating cyber risk component into Board discussions

In addition to driving elevated attention to cyber resilience, BAE Systems Chairman Dick Olver participated last night in a WEF-related Financial Times Executive Dinner focused on the “big data deluge” and the future workforce. During the panel, Olver highlighted another central tenet of a nimble and forward-looking organization: developing the right people, skills and culture to inspire and sustain success in a changing world.

“Understanding data management is just the base requirement to be in the game and move business forward. To win it, you’ll need something even more important and more difficult to acquire – inspired workers,” Olver said. Olver’s view is that there are several forces shaping the future today, including globalization, demographic change, rapid technological innovation and a mobile workforce. The organizations that empower their employees to access and share the right global expertise in real-time will become the great, competitive places to work.

Olver stressed that BAE Systems made this an important focus when it has kicked off global employee engagement programs to better connect with and empower its future-ready force of more than 90,000 defense, aerospace and security professionals in more than 100 countries worldwide.

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