Only a quarter of UK firms prioritize security when buying new tech

Only 24 percent of organizations are prioritizing security when it comes to technology investment according to a new report from UK-based software company Advanced.

For the report the company surveyed over 500 senior decision makers working in UK businesses, both SMEs and large enterprises, to explore the state of digital transformation. It shows that just 34 percent admit that regulatory change is triggering the purchase of new technology in their organisation, which is surprisingly low given the introduction of GDPR in May last year.

Justin Young, director of security and compliance at Advanced says:

The GDPR should have been a wake-up call for organizations to better protect their customers' personal data. Why, then, are so many businesses still failing to take security seriously?

Information security is important -- not only because it can improve customer confidence, support good data governance and demonstrate compliance with the GDPR, but also because it is actually a key driver to achieving successful digital transformation. In fact, no technology should be implemented without understanding its security implications.

However, according to the report only 53 percent currently have a security strategy in place. It perhaps comes as no surprise, then, that security concerns are holding more than a third of businesses back from achieving a successful digital strategy.

"What is clear, however, is that organizations need to act now," Young adds. "They need to work out what skills they do have in-house to manage the basics (and then, if needed, work out what to outsource) and prioritize raising awareness across the rest of the workforce. Ultimately, every cyber security strategy must start with educating people that a company's data is sensitive -- and this education must not stop. This means IT and security leaders continually need to ensure a culture of responsibility is adopted at all levels."

The full report is available from the Advanced site.

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