Client Overview
A global IT products and services company experiencing rapid growth, with increasing demand to strengthen its cybersecurity posture, support customer trust, and scale operational resilience across enterprise platforms and product environments. A recent security event increased executive focus and urgency around the delivery of cyber resilience initiatives.
Challenge
As the organization scaled, it identified a broad portfolio of cybersecurity initiatives designed to enhance risk management, threat detection, and operational capabilities. However, execution at scale was constrained by structural and alignment challenges:
- Over 50 initiatives defined across Global Security and IT without consistent prioritization or sequencing
- Limited alignment between Global Security and IT operating models
- Absence of a formal governance structure to support enterprise-level decision-making
- Fragmented delivery approach with limited visibility into dependencies, risks, and progress
- Resource constraints and competing operational priorities created ongoing capacity and sequencing challenges across the portfolio
- Difficulty communicating technical initiatives in terms of business impact and strategic value
- Highly dynamic environment with leadership transitions and shifting priorities
Approach
Portfolio Structuring and Prioritization
- Structured 50+ initiatives into a unified program
- Developed standardized 1-page summaries defining scope, value, and delivery requirements
- Established demand intake and prioritization aligned to business value and risk
- Assessed resource requirements and delivery capacity across the portfolio to support sequencing, budgeting, and workforce planning decisions
- Sequenced initiatives into phased delivery waves
Governance and Operating Model Design
- Implemented a three-tier governance framework (executive, program, delivery)
- Defined ownership across Global Security, IT, and executive stakeholders
- Established decision-making and reporting cadences
- Created lightweight governance and reporting processes to align teams operating with different tools, delivery practices, and prioritiesProgram Execution and Stakeholder Alignment
- Facilitated portfolio planning workshops and intake processes to improve prioritization, sequencing, and execution visibility across initiativesPartnered with IT leaders to develop plans and value articulation
- Translated technical work into business-relevant narratives
- Helped rebuild trust and alignment between Global Security and IT through consistent communication and shared accountability
Delivery Model Transformation
- Established and piloted a scalable Agile delivery approach across Global Security and IT initiatives
- Converted waterfall-based project plans into meaningful epics and stories within ServiceNow
- Demonstrated reporting, workflow, and portfolio management approaches to support broader Agile adoption across the organizationCapability Augmentation and Specialized Support
- Provided AI risk governance expertise
- Delivered policy and technical writing for GRC
- Supplied FedRAMP-experienced engineering and program leadership
- Expanded engagement based on delivery credibility
Outcome
Over a 13-month engagement, Notch Above Consulting helped transform a fragmented portfolio of cybersecurity initiatives into a structured, execution-ready program aligned to enterprise priorities.
Key outcomes included:
- Structured and prioritized 50+ cyber resilience initiatives into a cohesive, multi-year transformation roadmap
- Implemented a three-tier governance model with executive, program, and delivery-level forums to improve decision-making, escalation, and accountability
- Established regular planning, reporting, and review cadences that improved visibility into delivery status, risks, dependencies, and resource constraints
- Supported resource and budget planning by clarifying delivery capacity, required roles, and opportunities for internal staffing, hiring, or specialized partner support
- Strengthened partnership between Global Security and IT through consistent communication, shared accountability, and clearer escalation paths
- Created a repeatable Agile delivery pilot in ServiceNow by converting waterfall project plans into epics and stories, setting the foundation for broader portfolio migration
- Expanded NAC’s role into specialized security-adjacent areas, including AI governance, GRC policy and technical writing, and FedRAMP support, based on the credibility established during the engagement
Despite operating in a rapidly changing environment with evolving leadership structures and priorities, the program maintained momentum and enabled the organization to execute critical cyber resilience initiatives with greater clarity, coordination, and confidence.
Key Takeaway
Scaling cybersecurity in a high-growth environment requires more than identifying initiatives—it requires structured execution, prioritization, and governance. Notch Above Consulting enabled the organization to turn strategy into measurable outcomes.