Netwrix survey: Data security is the top IT priority for 74% of UK organisations in 2020

Netwrix, a vendor of information security and governance software, has announced the release of the Netwrix IT Trends 2020 report, which identifies the top priorities for organisations in 2020 based on a global survey of 1,045 IT pros. 

The top three IT priorities for the 102 respondents from the UK were data security (74%), automation of manual processes (70%) and digital transformation (57%).

The online survey, conducted in October 2019, asked respondents to name their top five IT projects for the next year; they could pick from a predefined list or specify their own initiatives. Maintaining data security was the top priority for UK respondents, as it was for organisations overall. However, more than half (52%) of UK organisations plan to adopt cloud technologies, compared to just 23% of their European counterparts. 

The Netwrix survey revealed the following key IT trends for UK organisations:

• Security is the top priority. Maintaining data security was listed by 74% respondents in the UK. In addition, 30% of them named data privacy. To help achieve these goals, 39% of respondents plan to work on increasing cybersecurity awareness among employees.
  
  
• Streamlining IT operations is also a top goal. To increase operational efficiency, 70% of UK respondents will be automating manual tasks and 35% plan to integrate their existing solutions.
  
  
• Digital technologies pose new challenges for IT teams. Digital transformation was named by 57% of the UK organisations, and 52% have cloud migrations planned. Achieving these objectives will require IT teams to have a broad skill set and to balance speed against security concerns.
  
  
• Compliance is no longer a standalone task. Adhering to compliance standards is a priority for 39% of UK respondents. This relatively low number might indicate that they realize that compliance is a natural byproduct of a thorough and continuous approach to cybersecurity.
  
  
• The skills shortage will be addressed through IT education and new hires. To gain the cybersecurity expertise they need, about 30% of UK organisations plan to educate their current IT staff and 22% expect to employ additional IT talent.

“Evolving cyber threats and data protection regulations like the GDPR require UK organisations to properly protect the sensitive data they store. The challenge arises when organisations have to juggle ongoing digital transformation and unresolved operational issues. To achieve their goals, organisations should consider data security solutions that are easy to use and can be integrated with a broad range of IT systems, especially cloud applications. Otherwise, they risk further degrading operational effectiveness by adding more siloed technologies,” said Matt Middleton-Leal, EMEA & APAC General Manager at Netwrix.