Study identifies top IT priorities for 2019
Cupertino, CA, December 19, 2018 – According to a survey by the OTRS Group[1], cybercrime is a top concern among more than 60 percent of IT professionals who classified themselves as either very worried or worried about cybercrime. Another 20 percent were only somewhat worried with the rest being either mildly worried (11 %) or not worried (5 %). When asked about specifics, common answers included ongoing threats from foreign-located hackers, protecting newly integrated services and technologies, and browser vulnerabilities.
The same group was asked how prepared their organization is to handle security incidents and more than 30 percent said that their organizations are less than prepared. (Fortunately, 36% claimed that they were prepared. Another 34 percent stated that they are very prepared.)
But, will they apply IT budgets to cyberdefense?
What’s interesting about these two facts is that, while IT executives are very worried about cybercrime and many are not ready to handle incidents in 2019, this is not an area where they are planning to invest. According to the group surveyed, the top three budgetary expenditures in 2019 are expected to be as follows:
– AI upgrades/improvements 23%
– Training/skill building 21%
– Infrastructure improvements 17%
While they don’t appear to be loosening their wallets to take on cybercrime in 2019, they will be devoting resources to the issue. Security adaptations will be the number one time/effort investment by this group with 21 percent responding this way. Following this,
– Moving to cloud-based solutions 17%
– Data privacy / protection regulations 16%
– Incorporating AI 13%
“With such a significant focus on security and data protection in the US and Canada, we think it’s critical to keep these in mind when driving digital transformation efforts during the upcoming year. Whether CIOs are focused on AI or hiring, we recommend a service management system that can cover different functionalities, such as process structuring, document and resource management and reporting, while at the same time meeting the highest security standards of GDPR and CCPA.”
Further information about OTRS can be found here.
[1] The study has been conducted online through Pollfish among 163 people responsible for IT in the US and Canada
About OTRS Group
OTRS Group is the manufacturer and world’s largest service provider for the OTRS Service Management Suite, awarded the SERVIEW CERTIFIED TOOL seal of approval. It offers enterprises of all sizes flexible solutions for process and communication management, in order to save time and money. Its customers include Lufthansa, Airbus, IBM, Porsche, Siemens, Bayer Pharma AG, BSI (German Federal Office for Information Security), Max Planck Institute, Toyota, Huawei, Hapag Lloyd and Banco do Brazil (Bank of Brazil). More than 170,000 companies worldwide use OTRS, including over 40 percent of the DAX 30 companies. OTRS is available in 38 languages. The company consists of OTRS AG and its six subsidiaries OTRS Inc. (USA), OTRS S.A. de C.V. (Mexico), OTRS ASIA Pte. Ltd. (Singapore), OTRS Asia Ltd. (Hong Kong), OTRS Do Brasil Soluções Ltda. (Brazil) and OTRS Magyarország Kft. (Hungary). OTRS AG is listed on the Basic Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Further information can be found at: www.otrs.com.