Survey: C-Suite Executives Expect Changes Made in Response To Covid-19 to Become Permanent
Sudden and massive shift to remote work accelerated cloud migration, but the accelerated lift and shift along with heavy reliance on service providers for security leaves blind spots
The vast majority (83%) of C-level executives expect the changes they made in the areas of people, processes, and applications as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic to become permanent (whether significant or partial), according to data from a new report published by Radware.
According to the report, C-Suite Perspectives: Accelerated Cloud Migration but Lagging Security, pandemic-driven changes affected various aspects of business, 44% of executives surveyed reported a negative impact on budgets, 43% reported a workforce reduction, while 37% reported reduced real estate footprints.
The pandemic accelerated the migration of business infrastructure and applications into the cloud. 76% of companies adopted cloud services faster than they had planned, and 56% of respondents said that the contactless economy — e-commerce, on-demand content, video conferencing, etc. — had a positive impact on their business. The quick migration helped to maintain business operations but potentially exacerbated cybersecurity gaps, due to an increased attack surface. 40% of survey respondents reported an increase in cyberattacks amid the pandemic. 32% said that they relied on their cloud provider’s security services to provide security management for their public cloud assets.
“The transition to remote work and new online contactless business models is not temporary and is affecting the future strategy on how organizations invest in cybersecurity,” said Anna Convery-Pelletier, Chief Marketing Officer at Radware. “Normally, businesses would make this shift over an extended period of time. However, the pandemic forced a massive shift to remote work which is now creating new security challenges.”
“Before the pandemic, digital transformation was a long-term strategic goal for most businesses,” said Michael O’Malley, Vice President of Market Strategy for Radware. “On-demand content consumption, contactless payments, curbside pickups, and remote workforces are now business imperatives. Executives must revisit what they’ve implemented to ensure that a lack of cybersecurity planning does not undermine their goals.”