Press release

Survey Finds Conservative Approach to Security and Data Protection Cripples Digital Transformation Efforts

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TITUS,
a leading provider of data protection solutions and Blackstone portfolio
company, today released a report
that finds security professionals who adopted a more traditional or
reactive approach to their data protection and security program did not
believe they would reach their digital transformation goals. The report,
“The
Vital Role of Security in Digital Transformation,” is based on a
survey conducted by Market Strategies International of more than 600 IT
decision makers at leading brands across a diverse set of industries in
the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The report highlights that nine out of 10 security professionals
deploying a strategic approach to security believed their current
efforts would address digital transformation needs within five years and
that their organization would achieve its digital transformation goals
in the next five years. Most of these respondents held senior-level
titles, with over half listing their title as Chief Information Security
Officer (CISO).

Conversely, only fifty percent of those leveraging a more traditional or
conservative approach to their security initiatives believed their
current efforts would address digital transformation needs in the next
five years and that their organization would achieve its digital
transformation goals in that same timeframe. While many of these
respondents held more junior titles, a full third self-identified as a
CISO.

“In speaking with organizations of all sizes, it’s clear there are two
approaches to security – one where you view it as enabling your
business, and one where you view it as a cost of doing business,” said
Jim Barkdoll, CEO for TITUS. “Adopting a strategic approach to security
is a game changer for our customers, as they’re able to better define
and quantify the value of their data protection and security initiatives
to the entire organization, from the board of directors to individual
lines of business. The survey results underline that viewing security
proactively not only helps an organization’s overall security posture
and culture, but also becomes a competitive differentiator, particularly
when it comes to digital transformation.”

Strategic Security Posture Includes Early Adoption, Fewer Security
Solutions

Perhaps unsurprisingly, respondents adopting a more strategic approach
to their security and data protection initiatives were more likely to
state that their existing security infrastructure is up-to-date, with 64
percent indicating that they were early adopters of new technologies and
60 percent pursuing best-of-breed security solutions on an ongoing
basis. Fewer than 40 percent of respondents adopting a traditional or
more conservative stance to security and data protection identified
themselves as early adopters, with 43 percent describing themselves as
best-of-breed purchasers.

Additionally, strategic security professionals tended to work with fewer
vendors and fewer products in their security stack. More than 80 percent
worked with ten or fewer security vendors and 70 percent deployed ten or
fewer security solutions. This was a stark contrast to their more
conservative and traditional counterparts, nearly a quarter of whom use
more than 25 different security solutions.

Other findings highlighted in the report include:

  • North Americans prefer buying ‘best of breed’: North American
    respondents had a more assertive stance in their messaging of digital
    transformation, security and protection:

    • 62 percent were more likely to describe themselves as early
      adopters of technology, compared to 46 percent of UK respondents
    • Almost sixty percent indicated they preferred ‘best of breed’
      providers, compared to only 49 percent of UK respondents
  • UK less confident in security and digital transformation: While
    81 percent of North American respondents believe the success of their
    digital transformation efforts relies heavily on strong IT security
    and data protection, only 70 percent of UK respondents felt similarly.
  • Financial services firms more skeptical about digital
    transformation:     Half of all financial services respondents viewed
    security as their biggest obstacle to digital transformation, well
    above the average. By contrast, retail and professional services
    respondents were least concerned about security, which likely
    contributed to their greater buoyancy about digital transformation.

For an in-depth look at the complete survey findings, please download
the free report here.

Additional Resources:

Tweet This: New report from @TITUS shows traditional
#dataprotection hinders #digitaltransformation efforts: http://bit.ly/2HsZ5W1

About TITUS

TITUS is a leader in providing solutions that enable businesses to
accelerate their adoption of data protection. The company’s products
enable organizations to discover, classify, protect, analyze and share
information. With an open, intelligent policy manager, TITUS customers
are also able to address regulatory compliance initiatives and get more
out of their existing security investments, including data loss
prevention (DLP), cloud access broker (CASB), encryption, and
next-generation firewall (NGFW) solutions. Millions of users in over 120
countries trust TITUS to keep their data compliant and secure, including
some of the largest financial institutions and manufacturing companies
in the world, government and military organizations across the G-7 and
Australia, and Fortune 2000 companies. More information is available at www.titus.com.