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The vast majority of businesses in Australia and New Zealand are prioritising cyber security as a must-have this year, with spending in the space planned to increase by as much as 20 per cent year-on-year.
According to new data from research firm IDC, A/NZ businesses have increased their security spending by an additional 10 to 20 per cent when compared to last year’s originally budgeted IT plans.
In fact, Emily Lynch, associate market analyst for A/NZ IT Services at IDC, claimed that 98 per cent of A/NZ organisations rated workplace security as an important capability for business and operational continuity through the pandemic.
“Many of these businesses intend to invest further in their cyber security over the next 1-2 years, with remote access needs and accelerating secure innovation the main drivers of this growth,” she said.
Lynch said as businesses in the region shift to new models of work, like remote and hybrid working, the protection of the environment these models operate in becomes a "crucial need".
The report also found A/NZ organisations rated cyber security skills as the most important IT skill to have for rebuilding amid the first wave of economic recovery from the pandemic, with the research firm highlighting remote access, data security and endpoint management tools and solutions as areas that are worth investing further into.
The top security priorities in, and past, 2021 will focus on data and information security across varying environments, IDC claimed. Indeed, the remote working boom has seen people working from home on personal devices, which poses a security challenge for organisations in the region.
Additionally, if more lockdowns take place, this will necessitate the need for more remote working, making that security challenge all the more significant.
"The increased complexity of IT environments because of the pandemic is a turning point for organisations’ data security strategies,” Lynch said. “Many organisations lack a long-term security investment road map that is recalibrated after the upheaval of 2020.
“Resolving poorly configured solutions and rushed deployments will be a near-term focus point as businesses look to re-set strategy for the coming year."
