Risk Prioritisation for SMEs: Build a 30/60/90-Day Security Roadmap (Without Chasing Noise)

Most SMEs don’t lack security work. They have the opposite problem: too many tasks, too many opinions, and no shared order of operations. One person says “run vulnerability scans,” another says “write policies,” and Procurement suddenly cares about incident response, audit rights, and contract wording. The result is a backlog where urgent and important get mixed—and your team ends up chasing whatever is loudest this week.

A useful security roadmap isn’t a long list of controls. It’s a prioritised plan that answers three practical questions: What matters most to the business right now? What would block revenue or uptime? And what can we prove with evidence? That last point is often overlooked: it’s not enough to “do security.” You need to show buyers, auditors, and stakeholders credible proof—without turning your team into a documentation factory.

In this guide, you’ll get a simple prioritisation model and a 30/60/90-day roadmap structure that works for growing companies. You’ll learn how to align Sales + IT around the same priorities, how to avoid “security noise,” and how to turn your roadmap into a buyer-friendly narrative that speeds up due diligence.

Explore more:

• Security Questionnaires: The Hidden Deal Blocker for SMEs (Especially in the Netherlands)
• Security Addendum and Contract Clauses: Why deals slow down after the questionnaire (and how to stay in control)

TL;DR (Answer box)

To prioritise security work, score each item by Business Impact, Exposure, Proof Gap, and Effort (1–5). Then build a 30/60/90-day roadmap: 30 days = stabilise basics and close the biggest proof gaps, 60 days = operationalise routines (triage, SLAs, monitoring), 90 days = demonstrate maturity and reduce procurement friction with repeatable evidence.

Key takeaways

• Prioritise deal blockers + uptime risks before “nice-to-have” controls.
• “Proof gap” is often the fastest win: if you can’t show it, buyers won’t trust it.
• 30/60/90 works when each item has an owner + evidence (not just a to-do).
• Avoid tool-first roadmaps; build the workflow (triage → remediate → retest). A roadmap should be a plan you can prove, not promises you can’t keep.

Why security roadmaps fail in growing businesses

Security roadmaps usually fail for predictable reasons:

• Everything becomes high priority, so nothing is.
• Teams optimise for tools and checklists, not outcomes.
• Sales wants deal momentum; IT wants stability; leadership wants “no surprises.”
• There’s no consistent way to explain tradeoffs to buyers: “We can’t do X yet, but we control risk via Y, and here’s our plan.”

A better roadmap starts by agreeing on what you’re prioritising for.

Step 1 — Define the outcomes (pick 1 primary, 1 secondary)

Choose one primary outcome (what must improve first), and one secondary (what good looks like next).

Primary outcome options (pick 1)

• Revenue protection: remove deal blockers (procurement friction, questionnaires, addendums, audits)
• Operational resilience: reduce outage/data loss risk
• Compliance readiness: prepare for a framework/audit timeline

Secondary outcome options (pick 1)

• Faster procurement responses
• Reduced incident impact
• Better engineering guardrails (Secure by Design)

This prevents roadmap chaos. Without an outcome, prioritisation changes every time a new stakeholder shows up.

Step 2 — Use a lightweight scoring model (Impact + Exposure + Proof Gap − Effort)

You don’t need a complex risk register to prioritise well. Use a simple 4-factor score (1–5 each).

The prioritisation formula (simple and effective)

A good security priority is high impact + high exposure + high proof gap, with manageable effort.

Score each backlog item:

1. Business Impact (1–5) Will failure affect revenue, customer trust, or uptime?
2. Exposure / Likelihood (1–5) How likely is it, given your stack, access model, and current controls?
3. Proof Gap (1–5) If a buyer asked “show me,” could you produce credible evidence within 24–48 hours?
4. Effort (1–5) (inverse priority) How hard is it to implement and operationalise properly?

Decision rule: Prioritise items where Impact + Exposure + Proof Gap is highest and Effort is not extreme (unless impact is critical).

Step 3 — Turn the score into a 30/60/90-day roadmap

A strong 30/60/90 plan is not “30 days = fix everything.” It’s:

• 30 days = stabilise + close critical proof gaps
• 60 days = harden + operationalise
• 90 days = demonstrate maturity + reduce procurement friction

What goes into the first 30 days (Stabilise & prove the basics)

Focus: remove the most painful risk + credibility gaps quickly.

Typical priorities:

• Access control hygiene: MFA on key systems, admin access review, least privilege basics
• Backups + restore test: prove you can recover (not just that backups exist)
• Patch cadence + ownership: define routine for critical updates
• Minimum incident response: contacts, escalation, and a short response playbook
• Evidence index: where key proof lives (policies, logs, tickets, screenshots)

Day-30 deliverable: A short “security baseline summary” plus an evidence index you can reuse in due diligence.

What goes into days 31–60 (Harden & operationalise)

Focus: make controls repeatable and reduce preventable incidents.

Typical priorities:

• Logging baseline: what you log, where it goes, and retention
• Vulnerability management workflow: triage → remediate → retest → report
• Supplier visibility: list critical vendors, access, and data flows
• Secure change basics: minimal change control for production systems
• Targeted training: admin hygiene, phishing basics, incident reporting

Day-60 deliverable: Operational routines that don’t rely on heroics—plus evidence you can point to.

What goes into days 61–90 (Demonstrate maturity & remove procurement friction)

Focus: present a buyer-ready narrative and reduce negotiation cycles.

Typical priorities:

• Evidence pack upgrades: versioned docs, consistent answers, cleaner proof
• Tabletop exercise: simple incident simulation + documented learnings
• Control consistency: ensure what you say matches what you do
• Framework mapping (if needed): map baseline to ISO/SOC2/HIPAA/etc.
• Quarterly ritual: keep answers “true” over time

Day-90 deliverable: A buyer-friendly summary: “what we do today, what we can prove, and what’s next.”

Explore more:

• Baseline-first vs scanning tools

Template: 30/60/90 Roadmap Table

Use this table format to keep the roadmap execution-friendly and buyer-friendly.

Buyer-ready summary 

Use this in emails or in your “security overview” doc.

• Today: We have baseline controls in place and can provide evidence for the essentials.
• Next 60–90 days: We’re implementing operational routines and improving measurable areas.
  Proof: We maintain an evidence index and update it on a defined cadence.

How to keep Sales + IT aligned (so the roadmap sticks)

A roadmap dies when it becomes “IT’s private project.” To keep it alive:

• Convert each priority into one sentence Sales can repeat:
  “We enforce MFA for admin access, review privileged access regularly, and can provide evidence on request.”
• Assign one accountable owner per priority (not “the team”).
• Track progress with evidence, not opinions: ticket IDs, policy versions, restore tests, logs.

Common prioritisation mistakes (and how to avoid them)

• Chasing tools before process: scans without triage/remediation become noise.
• Writing policies without implementation: buyers ask for proof, not PDFs.
• Overcommitting deadlines in contracts: a roadmap is a plan, not a guarantee.
• Trying to fix everything at once: choose the few moves that change risk + credibility.

Where each Sunbytes package fits

• Sunbytes CyberCheck: establishes a practical baseline and turns scattered tasks into a prioritised roadmap with ownership and evidence.
• Sunbytes Compliance Readiness: maps your baseline into compliance language and audit expectations when you need ISO/SOC2/HIPAA/NIS2/DORA alignment.
• Sunbytes CyberCare: keeps your controls and evidence continuously current, so your answers remain true quarter after quarter (and renewals don’t become painful).keeps the roadmap alive—continuous cadence, evidence refresh, and ongoing improvements so procurement answers stay accurate quarter after quarter.

About Sunbytes

Sunbytes is a Dutch technology company headquartered in the Netherlands, with 14 years of experience helping international teams Transform · Secure · Accelerate. 

• Our Secure-by-Design approach isn’t a standalone “security project”—it’s reinforced by how we deliver and scale. 

• Transform strengthens Secure by Design by embedding security into modern product delivery: senior engineering teams, disciplined QA/testing, and reliable maintenance practices that reduce defects, rework, and risk.

• Accelerate strengthens Secure by Design by ensuring you can scale capability and capacity without losing control—bringing the right people, processes, and continuity so security requirements don’t collapse under growth. 

Want a 30/60/90 security roadmap your team can execute—and your buyers can trust? Share your current security requirements (questionnaires, addendums, or customer asks). We’ll help you prioritise what matters, define proof you can stand behind, and build a roadmap that removes deal blockers first.