Have you got a digital safety champion?

You know the feeling. It’s like you against the world.  You’re doing your best to get the message out, and sure, your message does get out there, but are enough people paying attention?

Imagine you had a few more people to help you. Now imagine you had an army of people sermonising your message like a group of manic street preachers.

An effective way to increase your reach is through a series of like-minded people within your business.  Some people call them Cyber Safety Champions, you might call them Gurus, Masters, Ninjas, or even Manic Street Preachers (not recommended).

What can a network do for you?

• They can be a communications channel for interesting or important information. Your employees are more likely to open an email or listen to a warning from someone they know, rather than a faceless (albeit friendly and awesome) person they have never met.
• Your Champs can provide you with information about business pain points, from the people who are experiencing the pain, and provide ideas for solutions.

How do you set up such a network?

• Work out a (semi)formal structure and process that you can follow and promote to your business.
• Work out the benefits for the Champs. Hold a yearly forum, give them badges or merchandise to promote themselves to their team.
• Allow them to role shadow, or give them information on training courses to encourage people to get involved.
• Make sure your volunteers get permission from their boss before asking them to spend their time helping your out.

Things will start out slow, but soon the message gets out there, people start paying attention, your army grows, and someone ironically buys you a Manic Street Preachers CD for Christmas.