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What is BISA, and when is it worth it?
The BISA baseline assessment (Business Infrastructure & Security Assessment) is SIMO GmbH’s structured review of a company’s current situation and immediate need for action. Step 1, Discover & Baseline, uses interviews and a site visit to document how business, data, IT, and security work together, with risks, critical gaps, priorities, and immediate actions. Step 2, Validate & Advance, checks the impact and adds the target state and roadmap. Both steps deliver Management Clarity: where you stand and what comes next.
Author Andreas O. Schwan, Managing PartnerLast reviewed
Step 1
Discover & Baseline: where you stand today
Step 1 answers the guiding question: where do we stand today, what are our main risks, and where do we need to act? Interviews with leadership, business units, and IT and an on-site visit produce a documented baseline. The findings are assessed from the perspective of business, operations, risk, and management. The baseline becomes the yardstick against which all later progress is measured.
Key results of step 1
- Documented current state
- The starting point against which all later progress is measured.
- Findings and risks
- Specific observations, backed by interviews, documents, or the on-site visit.
- Critical gaps
- Missing protection or capability with a high impact on the business.
- Priorities
- The ranking of areas for action by risk, effort, and benefit.
- Immediate actions
- Steps that need no major project and noticeably reduce a risk.
Areas reviewed
What BISA looks at
BISA aligns the assessment of IT and security with the business. It starts from the business context: business model, goals, critical processes, and dependencies. From there, it reviews infrastructure, network segmentation, identity and access, endpoints, cloud and SaaS, backup and recovery, data flows and interfaces, service providers and operational accountability, as well as AI readiness. Penetration testing is a separate engagement.
The result is a picture that leadership, business units, and IT can all read: what does the current state mean for operations, risk, and management, and what needs to happen first?
Step 2
Validate & Advance: from findings to target state
Step 2 is not a repeat; it picks up where step 1 left off. It validates the actions implemented, assesses what has changed since the baseline, re-evaluates the remaining risks, and widens the view to the target architecture. A completed step 1 is the prerequisite. We agree on the timing together, ideally once the immediate actions have been implemented.
The path through both steps
- Discover
Step 1
Baseline, findings, risks, priorities, and immediate actions.
- Improve
Your team implements
The immediate actions are implemented under your responsibility.
- Validate
Step 2
Check progress, re-evaluate residual risks, and name architecture gaps.
- Target
Target state and roadmap
Action plan and roadmap toward the enterprise target architecture.
Questions from leadership
What executives ask about it
When is BISA a better fit than BEIA?
For companies that want a solid baseline first and implement immediate actions themselves. If you face a major decision, investment, acquisition, or succession and need the enterprise view in a single pass, the BEIA enterprise assessment is the better choice.
What is not part of BISA?
Penetration testing is a separate engagement. The BISA baseline assessment evaluates how business, data, IT, and security work together and prioritizes actions. Your team implements the immediate actions, and step 2 then checks their impact.
Who takes part in BISA on the company side?
Executive leadership and those responsible in the business units and IT. The interviews and the on-site visit take place with them, and the documented baseline is built from their answers.
Author and sources
Who answers, and what it rests on
Sources and further reading
- SIMO GmbH: BISA service description, Business Infrastructure & Security Assessment, steps 1 and 2 with glossary, 2026
- SIMO GmbH: BEIA service description, Business Enterprise Infrastructure Assessment, 2026
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The next question and the path behind it
Related question
What is BEIA, and when is it worth it?
The direct entry point before major decisions: eight layers, one day on site, ten components.
Related question
How do you create reliable data flows?
One system of record per data set, binding KPIs, and reconciliations that expose discrepancies.
Getting started
BISA or BEIA
Two paths to sound decisions: the BISA baseline assessment in two steps and the BEIA enterprise assessment in a single pass, compared.
See how SIMO structures and assesses alternatives.
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