What is the most likely reason the Chief Information Officer (CIO) believes that generating a list of needed IT equipment is NOT adequate?

SCENARIO

Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:

Amira is thrilled about the sudden expansion of NatGen. As the joint Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with her long-time business partner Sadie, Amira has watched the company grow into a major competitor in the green energy market. The current line of products includes wind turbines, solar energy panels, and equipment for geothermal systems. A talented team of developers means that NatGen’s line of products will only continue to grow.

With the expansion, Amira and Sadie have received advice from new senior staff members brought on to help manage the company’s growth. One recent suggestion has been to combine the legal and security functions of the company to ensure observance of privacy laws and the company’s own privacy policy. This sounds overly complicated to Amira, who wants departments to be able to use, collect, store, and dispose of customer data in ways that will best suit their needs. She does not want administrative oversight and complex structuring to get in the way of people doing innovative work.

Sadie has a similar outlook. The new Chief Information Officer (CIO) has proposed what Sadie believes is an unnecessarily long timetable for designing a new privacy program. She has assured him that NatGen will use the best possible equipment for electronic storage of customer and employee data. She simply needs a list of equipment and an estimate of its cost. But the CIO insists that many issues are necessary to consider before the company gets to that stage.

Regardless, Sadie and Amira insist on giving employees space to do their jobs. Both CEOs want to entrust the monitoring of employee policy compliance to low-level managers. Amira and Sadie believe these managers can adjust the company privacy policy according to what works best for their particular departments. NatGen’s CEOs know that flexible interpretations of the privacy policy in the name of promoting green energy would be highly unlikely to raise any concerns with their customer base, as long as the data is always used in course of normal business activities.

Perhaps what has been most perplexing to Sadie and Amira has been the CIO’s recommendation to institute a privacy compliance hotline. Sadie and Amira have relented on this point, but they hope to compromise by allowing employees to take turns handling reports of privacy policy violations. The implementation will be easy because the employees need no special preparation. They will simply have to document any concerns they hear.

Sadie and Amira are aware that it will be challenging to stay true to their principles and guard against corporate culture strangling creativity and employee morale. They hope that all senior staff will see the benefit of trying a unique approach.

What is the most likely reason the Chief Information Officer (CIO) believes that generating a list of needed IT equipment is NOT adequate?
A . The company needs to have policies and procedures in place to guide the purchasing decisions.
B . The privacy notice for customers and the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) still need to be reviewed.
C . Staff members across departments need time to review technical information concerning any new databases.
D . Senior staff members need to first commit to adopting a minimum number of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs).

View Answer

Answer: A

Explanation:

The most likely reason the Chief Information Officer (CIO) believes that generating a list of needed IT equipment is not adequate is that the company needs to have policies and procedures in place to guide the purchasing decisions. Policies and procedures are essential for ensuring that the IT equipment meets the business needs and objectives, as well as the legal and regulatory requirements for data protection and security6 Policies and procedures can help the company to: Define the roles and responsibilities of the IT staff and other stakeholders involved in the purchasing process.

Establish the criteria and standards for selecting and evaluating the IT equipment vendors and products.

Determine the budget and timeline for acquiring and deploying the IT equipment.

Implement the best practices for installing, configuring, testing, maintaining, and disposing of the IT equipment.

Monitor and measure the performance and effectiveness of the IT equipment.

Without policies and procedures in place, the company may face risks such as:

Wasting time and money on unnecessary or inappropriate IT equipment.

Exposing sensitive data to unauthorized access or loss due to inadequate or incompatible IT equipment.

Failing to comply with data protection laws or industry standards due to non-compliant or outdated IT equipment.

Facing legal or reputational consequences due to data breaches or incidents caused by faulty or insecure IT equipment.

Therefore, generating a list of needed IT equipment is not adequate without having policies and procedures in place to guide the purchasing decisions.

Reference: 6: IT Policies & Procedures: A Quick Guide – ProjectManager; 7: IT Policies & Procedures: A Quick Guide – ProjectManager