London, United Kingdom, 23rd March 2022: While 94% of CIOs recognize some sort of serious threat over the next 12 months, only 27% list business continuity and stability as a top three priority over the next 12 months and nearly a third cited reducing risk as a measure of performance. These findings come from the fourth and final section of the 2021 Global CIO Survey from Logicalis, a global provider of IT solutions.
Logicalis logo
The study that surveyed 1,000 CIOs from around the world, found that nearly half of respondents (47%) see data breaches as the biggest risk to their organization (an increase of 6% since last year) . Following data breaches, CIOs cite malware and ransomware (39%) as other major concerns.
The perceived risk of data breach is likely to increase due to the proliferation of infinite workforces as employees continue to work from home or use hybrid work practices. When they do occur, data breaches can lead to a range of issues from loss of business -critical data and stalled business growth, and in the worst case – the complete closure of a business.
Less than a third of CIOs (30%) cited a lack of staff awareness as a security issue, down from 50% last year. This visible improvement in staff awareness is due in part to an emphasized investment in additional training and technology measures to reduce security risks. In fact, more than 50% of CIOs say their organizations have invested in employee security training this year, likely to help prevent data breaches arising from employee activity.
Other areas of investment include:
- Security technology – 66%
- Business continuity planning – 40%
- Third-party support by MSP experts– 35%
However, CIOs still feel that their organizations have a long way to go to invest in comprehensive security measures. Despite rapidly increasing cybersecurity risks, more than half of businesses (55%) have not yet received a cyber-attack recovery plan.
Toby Alcock, CTO of Logicalis, said: “Over the past 18 months, many businesses have set up temporary solutions to cope with the remote security work and disaster recovery that are experiencing fire testing. Some measures will work, but more action is needed to secure hybrid workers and enhance business stability. ”
“Businesses must adopt a holistic security approach with the capabilities to detect and respond to threats before they even occur. Predictive insights can fully protect the hybrid workforce and empower them to deliver optimal results for customers.Using technology to reduce risk will also help businesses adapt to future barriers, whether related to cyberattack or further market disruption.In a comprehensive plan, created using the advice from a trusted partner, companies can be sure they know they are protected. ”
For more information, and to explore additional key findings from the 2021 Logicalis Global CIO Survey, visit here: https://resources.logicalis.com/cio-priorities-business-continuity-resilience-and-mitigating-risk .
AFTER
About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international provider of digital service solutions currently accelerating the digital transformation of its 10,000 clients worldwide. Through a globally connected network of specialty centers, industry -leading experts (in education, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, professional services, retail, and telecommunications), and strategic partnerships (including Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, HPE, Dell / EMC, VMware, NetApp, Oracle, ServiceNow, Palo Alto, F5, among others), its 6,500 employees in more than 27 countries are trained to modernize key digital pillars of data center and cloud services, network security and infrastructure, communication and collaboration in the workspace, and data and information strategies.
As Architects of Change ™, Logicalis ’focus is to design, support and execute clients’ digital transformation by combining their perspective with their technology expertise and industry insights. The company, through a deep understanding of key IT industry drivers such as security, cloud, data management and IoT, can meet customer priorities such as revenue and business growth, operational efficiency , innovation, risk and compliance, data management and maintenance.
Logicalis Group, with annual revenue of $ 1.5 billion annually, maintains operations in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa and is part of the Datatec Group, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: DTC) , with revenues of more than $ 4.1 billion.
For more information, visit: https://www.logicalis.com