Getting started
BISA and BEIA Two paths to Management Clarity
The start of an engagement is clearly defined and takes place on your premises.
The BISA baseline assessment (Business Infrastructure & Security Assessment) examines in two steps how business, data, IT, and security work together: first a baseline with immediate actions, then the target state and roadmap. The BEIA enterprise assessment (Business Enterprise Infrastructure Assessment) looks at the whole company across eight layers in one pass. Both end with Management Clarity: current state, risks, gaps, opportunities, target, priorities, and plan.
45 minutes, by video, free of charge.
Which path fits? Twelve questions, about 3 minutes.
Step 1 of 2
BISA baseline assessment Step 1: Discover & Baseline
Where do we stand today, what are our main risks, and where do we need to act?
How it works
In interviews with the executive team, business units, and IT, and during a day on site with the Managing Partner who leads your engagement, we capture how business, data, IT, and security actually work together today. We assess the findings from the perspective of business, operations, risk, and management.
What we look at
Business context, infrastructure and network, identities and access, endpoints, cloud and SaaS, backup and recovery, data flows and interfaces, service providers and operational accountability, and AI readiness.
What you receive
- Documented current state as the baseline
- Findings, backed by interviews, documents, and the on-site day
- Risks and critical gaps
- Priorities by risk, effort, and benefit
- Immediate actions that work without a major project
Not included: Penetration testing, which is a separate engagement.
Step 2 of 2
BISA baseline assessment Step 2: Validate & Advance
What have we achieved, and how do we develop a robust enterprise target architecture from it?
How it works
Step 2 is not a repeat. We check the actions from step 1, assess what has changed since the baseline, re-rate the remaining risks, and widen the view to the target architecture.
Prerequisite
A completed step 1 (Discover & Baseline). We agree on the timing together, ideally once the immediate actions are in place.
What you receive
- Progress validation: implemented and effective?
- Residual risks, formally accepted or further mitigated
- Target state and architecture gaps
- Action plan with sequence and ownership
- Roadmap in stages, matched to budget and capacity
Single pass
BEIA enterprise assessment Executive Fast Track
How is our company set up today, what risks exist, and what target architecture do we need for our business vision?
How it works
The complete enterprise view in a single pass instead of two steps: one day on site with both Managing Partners. Because your team provides the documents in advance, the whole day is available for interviews, the walk-through, assessment, and prioritization.
- Before
- Your team provides the documents. We review them and agree on the agenda with you.
- On the day
- Both Managing Partners conduct the interviews and the walk-through, then assess and prioritize.
- Afterward
- We prepare the Enterprise Assessment Book and present it to the executive team.
What we look at
- Business
- Business context: goals and business model
- Organization and governance
- Business capabilities, operating model, governance, and service providers
- Foundation
- Data, applications, and technology
- Cross-cutting
- Security, risk & compliance across all layers; AI readiness across business, data, and technology
Enterprise Assessment Book: ten components, one basis for decision
- At a glance
- Executive Summary
- Where do we stand?
- Current State Architecture, Risk Register, Risk Heatmap
- Where do we want to go?
- Gap Analysis, Target State Architecture
- What needs to be done?
- Prioritized Action Catalog, Investment Areas, Transformation Roadmap
- What follows?
- Management Decision Paper
Not included: Penetration testing, legal review, detailed technical planning, and implementation.
Preparation
Well prepared, so the on-site day delivers
For the BEIA enterprise assessment, your team provides the key documents in advance. Anything still open comes with us to the on-site day as a question.
Ten days before · executive team
- Organization chart and named contacts
- So we can plan the right interviews.
- Strategy, goals, and current projects
- The basis for business context and target state.
- Confirmed time slots with executives, IT, and business units
- The day is tightly scheduled.
Five days before · head of IT, procurement, data protection
- Overview of systems and applications
- The basis of the Current State Architecture.
- Infrastructure documentation and network plans
- They show dependencies and weak points.
- Contracts with key service providers
- They clarify accountability and terms.
- Security and data protection policies
- They show requirements from the GDPR, NIS2, and GoBD (German rules for digital bookkeeping records), for example.
- Known weaknesses and open issues
- They feed into the Risk Register.
Questions
Questions executives ask before the appointment
When does step 2 of the BISA baseline assessment start?
Once step 1 (Discover & Baseline) is complete and your team has put the immediate actions in place. We agree on the timing together.
What is not included in the entry engagement?
For both the BISA baseline assessment and the BEIA enterprise assessment, penetration testing is a separate engagement. The BEIA also excludes legal review, detailed technical planning, and implementation. We take requirements from the GDPR, NIS2, and GoBD into account from an architecture and risk perspective.
As of October 2026 · not legal advice
Who from SIMO comes to the on-site day?
For the BISA, the Managing Partner who leads your engagement. For the BEIA, both Managing Partners. They conduct the interviews and the walk-through themselves and present the results to the executive team.
What happens after the entry engagement?
You decide. With Management Clarity, your current state, risks, gaps, opportunities, target, priorities, and plan are on the table. Whether to continue, and with which service, is your call, with no obligation to take the next step.
Your next step
45 minutes, and you will know whether SIMO fits your decision.
An initial call by video, free of charge and without obligation, with one of our two Managing Partners. If working together doesn’t make sense, we’ll tell you openly.
45 minutes, free of charge, by video.
Prefer to assess your position first? Twelve questions, about 3 minutes.
Prefer to call? +49 6021 625 63 40
Note: the 3D visualizations on this page were created with AI.