2020 will be the year of digital consolidation for most companies. For this purpose, organizations are focusing their investments on security and services or cloud infrastructures, key factors in the digital transformation of companies in the sector.
Over this year, many technological initiatives will be considered completed. However, many others will remain in constant evolution. These are the conclusions of the latest report by IT Research, designed to provide insight into the digital reality of organizations.
This report provides an overview of the current state of the technological strategies of Spanish companies and the IT implementations that will be carried out throughout the year. Among these data, the irruption of Artificial Intelligence stands out as a key aspect to bring innovation to business processes.
When it comes to allocating technology budgets, information security is one of the most significant priorities for Spanish companies. On the other hand, the consolidation of cloud infrastructure as a platform that supports IT business is also crucial. Moreover, the modernization of applications also plays a key role for those organizations whose objective is to obtain and manage the data that boost the business.
According to the study, 33% of the companies surveyed consider their digital transformation plans to be very advanced, whereas 15% state they are complete. Likewise, regarding cybersecurity strategies, 38% of the companies consider their plans to be at a very advanced stage compared to 7% that claim not to have initiated any strategy of this type.
Managing vulnerabilities: the main objective of cybersecurity strategies
By 2020, vulnerability management will become a priority for almost 20% of the interviewees. The top three is completed by access management (15%), and backup and recovery (13%). These three categories are followed by endpoint security (12%) and data loss prevention (10%).
The increased presence of managed security service providers is causing organizations to rethink their security execution and management model. According to the data, 46% will have a mixed model, whereas 10% will rely on an MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider).
Cybercriminals, hacktivists and employees (23%) are the main sources of threats. Cybersecurity training is therefore essential to allow companies to prevent and deal with these risks in their strategies.
Although security is a priority for IT budgets, 30% of companies say that the lack of money directly affects the improvement of cybersecurity strategies.
Artificial intelligence: the next step towards the digital revolution
Artificial intelligence will bring great innovation to all environments. According to a report by IDC Research, the European market for artificial intelligence systems expects to reach €12 billion by 2022.
Based on data from IT Research, 18% of the people surveyed for this report believe that artificial intelligence and machine learning will be in the short term in their businesses. A further 12% of participants claim to have it already implemented, and 10% say it is a high priority and that initiatives are being explored for the coming year. IT and marketing will be the two main areas where artificial intelligence will apply.
Other technologies that are revolutionizing the conception of companies include augmented/virtual reality, however, it is still not integrated into the companies’ plans. On the contrary, blockchain is starting to be implemented in technology companies.
Sources: Redacción Cuadernos de Seguridad – February 6, 2020.
