Someone with a stronger background in corporate security certainly could argue that he or she could simply put a strong information-security person in place to lead that aspect of the organisation. But in my experience, that argument just hasn't worked as well. For whatever reason, leaders with an information-security background seem more often to have the business savvy that makes upper management confident in their ability to break down the silos that have built up over time - perhaps just by the nature of who they interact with in a corporate environment.

Besides, even a converged CSO role is increasingly a technical one. Electronic record issues, data privacy issues and regulatory compliance pressures are becoming more and more complex. As I listen to the conclusions my clients have reached as they work through the process of determining what a converged security skill set looks like, I hear them place most of the emphasis in their description on a deep and diverse technology and information-security background.

The decision to converge information and physical security is a bigger decision than what meets the eye - as is the ability to succeed in a newly converged position. Assigning or acquiring the right talent to successfully lead a new converged operation is the difference between success and failure of the endeavour.

Jeff Snyder is president of SecurityRecruiter.com.