Security Focus Trends Upward for IT Departments

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TEKsystems, a company that provides IT staffing and services, recently did a study that essentially took the temperature of IT departments – what they think trends are, where budgets are focusing dollars and the like. One of the areas the survey focused on was security.

Most of the predictions and trend reports I see are from security experts. While I think these predictions are essential for anyone in charge of enterprise network security – it really does help to have an idea of what threats to protect against – it is good to hear about security concerns and predictions from the IT point of view.

What TEKsystems discovered is that security is a rising concern for IT departments. When asked, “Which of the following trends or technology will have the biggest impact on your organization in 2014,” big data came in first, but security moved from third place in 2013 to second place in 2014. Mobile computing also moved up a spot, from fourth to third. It is fitting that security and mobile move together because the two issues are so intertwined. An IT department can’t have a good mobile policy without having a solid security plan built into it.

IT departments also expect to spend on security in 2014. As the IT Industry Forecast survey stated:

As new security threats emerge daily, organizations must continue to focus on information security initiatives in order to protect sensitive data.

That increased security spending should be good news for staff in charge of security for their organization. The survey also found that 65 percent of IT leaders expect security-related salaries to increase this year, up from 40 percent from last year.

I’m sure that at many companies, security has been a priority for a while. But I like how this survey shows security is trending upward in all areas. A couple of weeks ago, I pointed out that it is necessary for organizations to re-evaluate their security efforts regularly because threats are constantly evolving. A security plan that was perfect for the company two years ago is more than likely ineffective today. But it is difficult to make sure you have the right security plan in place without the budget or the IT department’s full support. For this reason, the TEKsystem’s survey bodes well for the future.