Information Security Model Adopted By Walmart For Business Continuity Management

Walmart’s Implementation of Innovative Technology

Discuss about the Information Security Model of Walmart.

“Walmart Inc.” is an “American multinational Retail corporation” which is associated with operations of a chain of “hypermarkets”, “discount department stores” and “grocery stores”. Its headquarters is situated in Bentonville, Arkansas and its founder is Sam Walton. This was established in the year of 1962 and was incorporated from 31^st October 1969. Sam’s Club Retail is also owned and operated by the Walmart Inc. Walmart is considered to be largest company in terms of its revenue which is approximately around US $480 billion (walmart.com, 2018). Along with this it is also the largest private employer in the world which stands to be around 2.3 million.

Information security model refers to the method that are used for the purpose of authenticating the security policies due to the fact that they are intended for providing of a precise set of rules which is to be followed by a computer so as to implement all the processes and procedures which are contained in the security policy. Walmart has been associated with implementation of lots of innovative technology with their information technology system. This has impacted their strategy of low price tremendously (Aziz, 2013). The organization has stand out to be a pioneer in the scanning of the barcode along with examining at the point of sale information which has helped them a lot in accommodating their massive data warehouses. In 1980s the company had launched a satellite which has greatly helped in running all their business practices along with influencing their supply chain management as well. The strategic system of this organization includes link of the retail, sharing of the data and integration between the company and their suppliers, and is spearheaded by industry. This system has helped in facilitating the concept of “vendor accomplished inventory”.  There is a substantial IS infrastructure and is considered as the largest computer system of the country. The IT strategy of the company has been supporting the “build rather than buy” technique over years which has greatly helped in producing a business plan full of innovation (corporatereport.com, 2018). IBM’s (POS) point of sale for supermarket which has been hghly adapted by many supermarkets has also been implemented by Walmart at their every checkouts.

One of the most import security standard adopted by Walmart for the purpose of controlling all its information security is the ISO17799. A numbers of sections has been included and is associated with covering of security issues at wider range. This standard has been adopted by Walmart for different purposes and this includes the following:

• Assessment of the risks along with treatment of the risks. This section of the standard generally deals with the fundamentals of the risk analysis.
• Policy of the system so as to provide the management of the organization with directions along with supporting the information security or IS.
• Organizing the information security so as to manage it inside the organization and for the maintenance of the security of the information along with facilitating the processing’s with respect to any third parties.
• Management of Assets so as to achieve the appropriate protection of the organizations assets along with maintaining them (Tran, 2016). Along with this it is also ensured that an appropriate level of security is achieved by all the information.
• Security of the human resources so as to make sure that all the employees, contractors as well as the third parties who are appropriate for the jobs for which they are being considered along with making sure that they are capable of understanding their responsibilities. It is also implement so as make sure that everyone understands the risks related to the IS threats and are capable of acting accordingly so as to support the security policies of the organization.
• Maintaining of physical as well as environmental security so as to ensure that any type of unauthorized access is prevented which might damage the information and the premises of the organization. Along with this prevention of loss, theft, damage to assets and interruptions is also done by this standard (Wall et al., 2017).
• Management of the communications and the operations which is very much important for Walmart. This standard ensures the security of the operations along with maintaining of an appropriate level of IS and service delivery. Also minimizes the risks related to failure of the systems. Protection of integrity of the software’s and the information of the organization (walmart.com, 2018). Some other things maintained and ensured by this section of the standard incudes: Maintaining of all the availabilities and integrities of information as well as the processing facilities, so as to ensuring the “protection of information in networks and of the supporting infrastructure”, “security of the services related to e-commerce”, “prevention of any type of disclosure which is unauthorized”, “modification”, “removal or destruction of the assets”, “unauthorized disruption of business activities”.
• Management of information security incident so as to make sure that the security information is capable of communicating in such a timely manner that correct actions can be taken. Along with this it is also ensured that a steady and effective approach is adopted in order to manage the IS issues (walmart.com, 2018).

ISO17799 Standard for Information Security

There might occur various situations when the organization might face a situation of risk. The risk might occur due to various situations like due to natural hazards or due to human interventions (O’Connor, 2014). By proper preparation the company can eliminate all the problems. Five steps that has been adopted by Walmart includes the following:

Program Management: As stated in CSA Z1600, there should be a senior management like the CEO/CFO/ C-suite for every entity. Senior management is needed so as to make sure that the organization running in a smooth way. Along with this the senior management is also needed so as to make sure that there is an orderly flow of information (Roberts & Berg, 2012). This has helped in maintaining a smooth flow of information from the senior management to the employees in Walmart as well. There exists a policy in the Walmart store which has made them committed towards the customers, employees and stakeholders. Walmart has its business situated in different parts of the world and this has made them follow all the rules and regulations according to the country in which the stores are based.

Planning: CSA Z1600 states that, planning plays a very vital role for the “Business Continuity Management”. The BCM planning is generally dependent on three factors which includes the “Hazard Identification”, “Risk Assessment”, and “Business Impact Analysis”. Once the BIA is conducted it is the responsibility of the entities to make sure that a business continuity plan is developed and maintained as per the documentation form (CSA Z1600). Main focus of the BIA mainly involves the identification of the non-quantitative aspects which has an impact on recovery (Petersen, 2013). Things that are to be kept in mind are “Health and safety of all persons”, “communication with internal and external stakeholders”, “reputation”, “delivery of products and services” and “economic and financial condition”. Walmart has made a contingency plan that they can use in a situation when it is needed.
Implementation:   CSA Z1600 states that, there are eleven factors which needs to be included in the implementation stage and this mainly includes the following:

• resource management
• management of incidents
• training
• mutual aid
• prevention and mitigation
• response in times of emergency
• continuity of business
• communication and warning
• recovery
• operational procedures
• facilities

Things that are included in the methods related to “prevention and mitigation” are making of the legislation, increasing the rate of inspection, public education, equipment maintenance, training of personnel, insurance programs. Along with this, inspections at a regular basis needs to be done in the store so as to eliminate any type problem which might occur in the stores. Besides this the employees are provided with a training so as to make them capable of dealing with the situations of emergency for this they have to perform drills at a regular basis inside the store so as to provide training to the employees (Wall et al., 2017). The resources also manages their resources as well. For the purpose of using the supplies in case of emergency Walmart stocks up all their resources. “It is a pre-arranged agreement entered into by two or more entities whereby the parties to the agreement undertake to render assistance to one another” (CSA Z1600). In case of emergency there also exists an agreement between Walmart stores with other Walmart stores which states that help should be provided whenever needed. Certain stages have been made by Walmart so as to tackle some situations like threatening by the people, to the property or the environment (Alshboul & Streff, 2015). The Walmart Store has the potential of putting stress on these factors during any kind of emergency so as to recover from any type of disaster as soon as possible.

Walmart’s Business Contingency Plan

Exercise and Evaluation:  BCM includes an important thing that is the evaluation of the plans and the procedures by making use of regular review, testing and exercises (Engelhardt & Maurer, 2013). By making use of specific objectives the exercise is to be designed which includes validation of plans, testing of the systems and providing personnel with an opportunity in order to practice the roles assigned to them according to the plan (CSA Z1600).

Management Review:  By making use of periodical evaluation it can be seen that it is very much beneficial for the continuity of the programs and to meet all the objectives of the business.

Conclusion:

Business contingency and risk analysis helps in making the organization get ready for the various incident which might be reason behind the disruption of the business. For the purpose of delivering critical services and products during any type of crisis for the customers, Walmart store has been associated with developing a Business Contingency Plan along with plans for conducting the “Business Impact Analysis”, “Customer services”, “IT services”, “Finance”, “Store safety” and “Supply Chain Management”. This are some of the critical factors for which Walmart has made certain planning’s so as to deal with all this in cases of emergency. CSA Z1600 standards is followed by the Business Continuity Plan of the Walmart which covers almost all the factors of standard in their plan. Some of the things included by Walmart are legislation, awareness and training programs so as to prevent and mitigate the risks and put more emphasis on recovery.

References:

Alshboul, Y., & Streff, K. (2015). Analyzing Information Security Model for Small-Medium Sized Businesses.

Aziz, N. A. (2013). Foreign exchange intervention in Malaysia.

corporatereport.com. (2018). Strategy : 2015 Walmart AR. Corporatereport.com. Retrieved 26 March 2018, from https://www.corporatereport.com/walmart/2015/ar/strategy.php (corporatereport.com, 2018)

Engelhardt, S., & Maurer, S. (2013). Industry self-governance and national security: On the private control of dual use technologies.

O’Connor, C. (2014). Report: Walmart workers cost taxpayers $6.2 billion in public assistance. Forbes, April, 15.

Petersen, K. L. (2013). The corporate security professional: A hybrid agent between corporate and national security. Security journal, 26(3), 222-235.

Roberts, B., & Berg, N. (2012). Walmart: Key insights and practical lessons from the world’s largest retailer. Kogan Page Publishers.

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Tran, T. (2016). Explore” values-based leadership” from perspectives of scholars and practitioners: a systematic literature review in google scholar and amazon (Master’s thesis, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås).

Wall, G., Hill, W. A., Hargrove, T. M., Vaughan, B., Quarcoo, F., & Robinson, M. D. (2017). The Challenges of Developing a Successful Cooperative through an Integrated Resource Approach: Small Farmer-Tuskegee University-Walmart Project. Professional Agricultural Workers Journal, 4(2), 4.

walmart.com. (2018). Leadership. Corporate.walmart.com. Retrieved 26 March 2018, from https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/leadership (walmart.com, 2018)

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