1. Gone are the days of five-year plans. In the IoT world, creating a detailed five-year plan will not be nearly as viable or realistic as in years past. Rather, focus your time and energy on developing a five-year "big picture" goal and then iteratively develop comprehensive 7-14 month plans. New security threats, regulations, legal requirements, market changes, and technology advancements will continue to rear their ugly heads and alter your course of action.

The successful business will be the agile, adaptable business with short-term tactics tied to a long-term aim.

The error in the traditional, fixed five-year plan looking ahead lies in the rate of change occurring in the marketplace. By 2018, it will be nearly impossible to follow that blueprinted security plan outlined years prior that did not take into account the new technology your company will now be utilizing. Rather, as your business evolves with the surrounding landscape, your organization should be building a security plan within the project/product development phase and evaluating its impact in your short-term, detailed strategy covering the next several months.

It is important to still have that "big picture" idea, but you can't become bogged down on the original design; take a cue from some of art's greats and be willing to relook that masterpiece. Having a great security plan does not mean that your business is impenetrable to security threats, and that is especially true as time and sophistication in cyber-tactics progress. Learn from where others have failed and use their experience to better protect your company and your assets.

2. Avoid rigid behaviors. Think back to a technology you used five years ago and compare that to the technology you're using today. Notice a few differences you didn't think would be possible in such a short window? That's only going to get smaller and smaller.