IT Trust Curve Survey released today finds that 45% of senior executives currently lack confidence in their organizations’ data protection, security and IT availability. Clearly, I’m not the only risk manager wondering whether we have enough eyes on these matters.
This new, first-of-its-kind global survey reveals the insights of more than 3,000 decision maker interviews that span industry sectors and company sizes, from 16 different countries around the world.
Half of the survey participants hold roles in IT and the other half are non-IT senior executives, so the results offer a balanced look at how IT preparedness is viewed from the boardroom and from the IT trenches.
The survey findings underscore how important it is for IT practitioners to demonstrate to executive leadership that they have adequate governance processes in place for IT risk management.
This enables practitioners to build confidence that new issues and threats to the enterprise are being monitored, captured and managed effectively in the context of a robust infrastructure protection program.
Sharing information about how the business is protected through governance models and routines is as important as sharing information about what is protected.
As a chief risk officer, I can say that investing the time to deliver these messages to your executive management team and risk committees at the board level is crucial. Otherwise, communication gaps will lead to gaps in trust. For example, the survey reveals that 70% of IT participants consider their IT functions to be a driver of a resilient and secure infrastructure, yet only 50% of non-IT decision makers see IT functions performing that role.
In mature IT organizations, success against IT threats is not just accidental or attributable to good luck, but rather the result of mature processes and deployment of the correct IT tools that continuously monitor for new threats and adjust to new issues as they are revealed.
Driving for a higher level of maturity is not just for the Fortune 500 or the world’s largest companies. Every organization needs to pursue greater maturity in IT to protect intellectual property and reputations with customers, shareholders, and other public stakeholders.
See our IT Trust Curve Survey for the complete research findings, as well as an infographic that details top line results for each country surveyed. There is a wealth of information you can bring back to your organization to energize internal conversations on the importance of trusted IT.
