Cyber Security Top of List for Digital Transformation

A recent survey appears to have shown that changes brought by the pandemic have meant that IT buyers from companies working on digital transformation now value cybersecurity the most.

Survey

The survey, conducted among IT business leaders attending the all-virtual Digital Transformation Expo (DTX), DTX: NOW this month showed that 26 per cent of respondents put IT security at the top of their digital transformation list. A close second place was the cloud at 21 per cent.

Pandemic Accelerated Digital Transformation

As shown in survey results published last month by Studio Graphene, the need to quickly shift staff to working from home because of the lockdown appeared to be a driver and an accelerator of digital transformation for businesses.  The survey showed that nearly half (46 per cent) of business leaders said that said Covid-19 had driven the most pronounced digital transformation that their businesses had experienced.

Adapt

The distribution of the workforce/staff working from home which the pandemic lockdown caused has meant that not only have businesses have been forced to adapt their cloud strategy, but also their cybersecurity measures, and their business cultures to ensure that their businesses function as well as possible.

Challenges and Gains

The survey found that the biggest challenges to digital transformation projects were identified as being changes in the scope, reduced budgets, and changes in team structures.  At the same time, the survey results revealed that the need to ensure that all employees could work from home revealed IT issues that may not otherwise have been addressed, thereby helping the business to modernise and realise which areas needed investment going forward.

New Ways of Working

With further restrictions, local lockdowns, the possibility of new, stricter restrictions ahead and a decidedly uncertain near future for traditional office-based working, the pandemic has driven diversification of work methods and structures. Flexible, smarter, hybrid working, involving different location looks to be a reality for businesses as we try to gain more control in an increasingly unpredictable world and businesses environment.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The results of the survey appear to support the idea that necessity has driven digital transformation.  The pandemic lockdown has been a catalyst that has moved many aspects of businesses forward and led them to clearly and quickly see the importance of cybersecurity, where weaknesses are, where investment is needed next and has shown them that new, more flexible models of work can benefit employer and employee.  Whilst changes have been difficult, and people and their organisations have been forced to adapt to changes quickly, the lessons learned in digital transformation may have boosted confidence within organisations that they have the in-built flexibility, creativity, experience and ability to weather the storm and reinvent how they work according to prevailing conditions.