The power of community is ISACA’s secret sauce. It’s what binds our global community together, and never has that been more evident than during the pandemic.
Even as in-person events have been minimal for the past year-plus, our community continues making valuable career connections and growing their networks. These connections matter deeply for our professional community, whether it’s having a colleague to turn to for advice about a challenging project or something as consequential as a networking connection who brings to light a new career opportunity.
While fostering those community connections has, in some ways, been a challenge during the pandemic, in others, it has become more natural. We have all grown accustomed to finding each other in new digital spaces, making geographic distance less of an obstacle. That has led to new educational collaborations among ISACA chapters, the opportunity to meet fellow members virtually through conferences that would have been in-person-only in the past, and growing traction on our Engage community platform.
If you haven’t visited Engage in a while (or ever), check it out! In addition to featuring vibrant industry discussion threads and a wide range of volunteer opportunities, recent additions to the Engage community include:
- An expert directory through which members can share expertise and thought leadership
- A new CDPSE certification exam prep community global study group
- Digital badges that showcase your contributions to the ISACA community
Our focus on community-building extends beyond Engage. This month, we are kicking off an Ask Me Anything series in which members will have the chance to get to know CEO David Samuelson and Board Chair Greg Touhill by, as the name of the series implies, asking them anything. We are in the thick of preparing for our third annual CommunITy Day of volunteering throughout our local communities – save the date of 2 October and look for more details in the coming weeks. And although many of you have told us you’re enjoying this new world of virtual conferences, we also recognize the value of in-person networking and are excited to safely add those opportunities back into the mix, including next month’s hybrid 2021 GRC conference.
That sums up where we’re at for the time being, but there is much more to come. We are gathering additional insights from our members about how they envision community engagement in the future so that we can best support their learning and professional goals. And we are amid a digital transformation that will solidify the technological foundation for us to offer new and expanded formats for learning and community-building.
Speaking of ISACA’s digital transformation, I recently attended a LinkedIn Live session on that topic, and I was struck by the hundreds of comments from the ISACA community throughout the session. Many of them were straightforward – “Hello from El Salvador,” “Hi from Karachi, Pakistan” – while others were commentary on topics such as emerging technology or the need for more cybersecurity practitioners. All of them reinforced how ISACA’s community craves a sense of togetherness and an exchange of ideas of how to advance the profession.
We all know the challenges that are out there: rising cybersecurity threats, complex new regulations, fast-evolving emerging technologies – the list goes on. No one of us has all the answers, but by embracing the power of community, ISACA members are well-equipped to take on all challenges that come our way.