IT security risks impede business development

Companies are being held back by IT security and data storage concerns, according to a recent study.

The report, carried out by UK based industry analysts, Freeform Dynamics, shows that many organisations are delaying the development of new technologies, such as supply chain management and advanced communications, as well as the adoption of home working, through fears of IT security issues involving data storage and retrieval.

Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed said concerns about business risk had deterred them from making such changes to the working environment, with the worry over loss of critical business information being one of the their top three reasons.

The illicit use of confidential company information was also classed as a priority, according to the study, with 65 percent seeing it as a major concern, and 94 percent taking it into consideration during business risk planning.

However, despite companies becoming better at evaluating threats to their business and planning for them, many organisations have still not set up integrated business risk management strategies that include IT, claims the research.

"A fairly staggering 55 percent of respondents have no overall risk management budget for the business or IT while only around 30 percent involve senior IT management in discussions about business risk," commented Simon Perry, VP of security strategy, CA, EMEA.

"This disconnect will continue to drive a wedge between the business strategy and the IT strategy, undermining or even preventing the business from competing or evolving in their market. Businesses need to look at investing in flexible, integrated technologies that address a broad spectrum of issues, such as security, storage and compliance.

"This strategy is usually a business enabler, allowing a business to respond effectively to changes in market demands while not compromising the integrity and availability of mission critical company data."

The study questioned 100 senior managers in the UK and was sponsored by CA.

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