Anti-Virus Strategy Systems
Where do our anti-virus strategy systems fit in this picture? We hope to explore some answers to that question by first examining the components of our model system. Keep in mind, however, that the goal of this paper is not to provide you with answers, but rather to stimulate new ways of thinking about the problems we face daily.

Components
Each of the components in Diagram 1 contributes to the overall health of the system. Conversely, each can contribute to the illness of the system. For instance, our computer can contribute to the health of the system by functioning properly. If the hard drive crashes, a disharmonic condition is introduced. Our managers contribute to the overall well-being of the system, as long as they perform correctly. However, if one of them intentionally or unintentionally infects a computer with a virus, he or she contributes to the illness of the system. Our software contributes to the wellness by keeping employees reassured, and by keeping viruses out. If it is disabled by an employee desirous of more speed upon boot, or if it does not do its job in virus detection, it contributes to the illness or chaos in the system. There are other factors not shown, as the anti-virus strategy system model does not stop at the boundary of the company. The model includes your Internet service provider, virus writers, makers of electronic mail front-ends, anti-virus product tech support people and more. For the purposes of this paper, we must draw an artificial boundary. We mention the rest to give you food for thought, and to illustrate that boundaries are not static.
Anti-virus Strategy System - The Environment
Programs Policy and Procedures
(Selection, Implementation and Maintenance)
Where do we begin in examining the interaction of our chosen system elements? Let's start with the software selection. Anti-virus software is selected based on a wide number of criteria (8). While some of these criteria are beneficial, several are counterproductive at best (9). We need to be aware of exactly how our company's software is being chosen, and not leave this vital aspect of software selection up to people who do not have the experience or expertise to make a selection that will maximize your organisation's protection against viruses.
Does your anti-virus software detect all of the viruses which are a real threat to your organisation? Before you glibly answer yes, you should recognise that all products are far from created equal, and that even the best products will not achieve this goal if not properly maintained. Consider the following:
When asked what happens to two blocks of copper initially at different temperatures left alone together in an insulated container, students will reply that the blocks will come to the same temperature. Of course, if asked how they know, they usually say "Because it is a law of nature"...the opposite is true...it is a law of nature because it happens.[10]
Apply this to your anti-virus software. Does it catch viruses because it is anti-virus software? If so, you can depend on it, as its name defines what it is. But, if you even loosely apply this concept, you will see that it is anti-virus software because it catches viruses - and if it does not, then what does that make it?
Remember the following quote:
'If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog?''Five?''No, Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg' [11]
Maintenance of your software is another critical issue. Maintenance refers not to the upgrade, but to the maintaining of the software on a daily basis. What does it require to run? Are you supplying what it needs to live? Or is it merely surviving? Does it have adequate memory, power, disk space to run optimally and lessen the chance your employees will disable it? Is it in an environment free from other programs which may hinder its performance? If you cannot answer yes to these questions, you are not providing an environment for this element of your strategy system which will allow it to remain viable. It will not survive. Like living systems, the anti-virus strategy system requires a favorable environment, else the system will adapt. Unfortunately, in the case of this system, adaptation can mean software becoming disabled by the user component of the system, or overridden by a competing software component. All this, and we have not even added viruses which by design cause a problem to the system by the introduction of instability.
Even if you have the best anti-virus software, and are running it optimally, there can still be problems. Software is just one part of the strategy system. Policies and procedures play an important role in the overall strategy. Even the viruses we mentioned earlier play a part in this system. Then there are the least predictable aspects of the system, the human beings. How complex is this system? How much should we expect the people involved to understand?
Ackoff defines an abstract system as one in which all of the elements are concepts, whereas a concrete system is one in which at least two of the elements are objects [12]. As you can see, our system is concrete. It is also by design an open system, one into which new components may be introduced. Some of these components are by nature 'unknown' (i.e. actions of people, how software may react, viruses which may appear).
When these components are introduced, we have to consider first how they behave on their own. Next, we have to consider how they would behave in combination with any and/or all of the other elements. Finally, we have to consider how 'things' in general will be if neither of the objects are present. In its most simple form, a two-part system would require four equations, but of course, you can see that as the number of elements increases, the number of interactive equations grows by leaps and bounds