Historically, cyber has been viewed as a preventative program – one that mitigates threats to existing technologies and infrastructure.
It’s time business leaders view cyber as an enabler of business growth, which leads to endless possibilities and drives innovation.
For Forbes
Historically, cyber has been viewed as a preventative program – one that mitigates threats to existing technologies and infrastructure. However, as the corporate landscape and world becomes more connected, the importance of cyber has become unparalleled.
To put it into perspective, the cost of financing a cyberattack is only US$34, while the cost to the business affected is much greater, reaching upwards of millions of dollars. The financial implications can be staggering, yet businesses view cyber just as an IT issue. This has prevented organizations from realizing the untapped potential a robust program can offer, halting the innovation it can enable to achieve business objectives. It’s time business leaders view cyber as an enabler of business growth, which leads to endless possibilities and drives innovation.
As highlighted and explored in a recently launched Deloitte Review article, “Cyber, cyber everywhere: Is your strategy everywhere too?” this shift starts from within. Rather than implementing cyber at the IT level to protect existing systems, businesses must explore ways to incorporate it at every level of an organization and across technologies. While likely not the innovation strategy business is used to, incorporating cyber into broader, C-suite strategic initiatives will make it a priority and enabler of digital transformation programs, ultimately fostering innovation and leading to continued growth.
In a recent study, “2019 future of cyber survey”, Deloitte polled more than 500 C-level executives to understand the existing outlook toward cyber. The results were insightful, revealing that over 90 percent of respondents allocated less than 10 percent of their cyber budgets to digital transformation efforts. These include initiatives such as cloud migration, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven products and software-as-a-service (SaaS), which not only increase business efficiencies, but enable the implementation of next-generation capabilities into existing systems, forging new “connected” territories.
