Symantec's IT risk assessment gets tweaked

Symantec Global Services has repackaged its consultancy program

Symantec Global Services has repackaged its consultancy program to provide customers with a more unified and formal approach to IT risk assessment.

The company has been providing the service on a pilot basis for the last six months, and has already offered advice on a ‘project basis’ for up to 90 customers.

Symantec senior director for IT risk management Darren Thomson says the difference with the Foundation IT Risk Assessment, announced yesterday [14th June], is that it now covers all four key aspects of IT risk: compliance, security, availability and performance.

“We have always had deep assessment [for individual projects], but this sits as an umbrella on top of those four areas,” he said.

“There is a serious danger that people invest in the wrong technology on a project basis. If they had taken a holistic view, they may not have been scared into doing that.”

The service costs $50,000 for two consultants who each put in three weeks of man-hours, and is available worldwide. Thomson knows that customers may be suspicious of taking IT Risk assessment advice from a security software company, but insists that no products from any vendor are earmarked in the final recommendation report.

“People are cynical about that, but this is completely detached form Symantec products and the sales guys go nowhere near it,” he said.