This month’s column will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), one of the reporting structures that appears to be gaining significant ground across industry sectors.

Last month’s column addressed the security organization reporting to the Chief Financial Officer.

Last month’s column addressed the security organization reporting to the General Counsel, which studies show is one of the more common reporting relationships for security executives.

Last month I covered the unlikely probability of the security organization reporting to the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Where within the enterprise the corporate security department reports is often more form over function. It may be personality driven, power driven or simply a corporate culture thing. Many companies have a hard time deciding where corporate security should report. 

Afew years ago I had the honor and privilege to give the keynote address at ISC West and was subsequently asked to repeat that address at ISC East.

Throughout my career as a CSO, I have had the opportunity to manage proprietary and contract security forces, as well as having had a very large hybrid operation that was a mix of both proprietary and contract security officers.

The four previous columns in this series were designed to help prepare you for collecting vital insights into the views of senior executives and key leaders across your enterprise. 

The previous three columns have laid the groundwork for establishing yourself as an effective influencer. In this month’s column, we will explore gaining the unique insights necessary to establish a program that will truly provide value to the enterprise.