These are unprecedented times for organizations across the world. Quickly and with very little warning, IT leaders had to step up to the plate to develop crisis-response procedures to maintain business operations amidst office closures, manufacturing disruptions and travel regulations. IT has had to transform and act swiftly on a number of key directives in order to keep their organizations afloat. Arrow and The Launchpad surveyed more than 2,000 IT leaders to understand how priorities have changed in the last 3-4 months. Before COVID 19, many IT teams were holding onto traditional technology drivers due to ease of business or budgetary restrictions. Although digital transformation has always been top of mind for service providers such as Volta, some companies simply didn’t have the time or means to consider shifting entirely to the cloud or integrating new approaches to cybersecurity, until now. 

This study uncovered the top 3 priorities amongst IT leaders right now: cybersecurity, data protection and cloud adoption.

Cybersecurity and Network Security

45% of the IT leaders interviewed highlighted cybersecurity, information security and network security as top issues for them. Remote work has increased exponentially and with it, a significantly larger risk of information exposure across business networks. Criminals have played into this trend which is evident from the spike in malicious activity being reported, including email phishing, malware and ransomware. The targets for these attacks have expanded past business networks to include personal laptops and cellphones. It’s clear the shift businesses are making into the remote workspace requires a shift in security procedures in order to protect remote employees and the data they access. Volta’s approach to cybersecurity.

Data Loss Prevention and Data Protection

43% of IT leaders cited data protection as one of their top priorities and challenges. The rise of remote work requirements due to the pandemic has created a number of questions about compliance, privacy and data protection. A lot of traditional data protection policies center on company networks. Bringing corporate work devices home is a different ballgame and not one many businesses have had to deal with until now. The survey results show that within this new remote work model, data protection outside of office networks is a major concern. Volta’s approach to cyber recovery.

Cloud Adoption

43% of the VPs of IT, CIOs and IT directors who responded to the study reported cloud technology adoption as a top business prerogative. A lot of organizations have been moving in the direction of cloud computing and transformation, but the developments brought on by the pandemic have energized a new push to the cloud. In other companies, IT departments who were already halfway there have gotten the greenlight from shareholders to fully adopt the cloud as an immediate answer to the demands of remote work management. Volta’s approach to cloud technology.

Technology has risen to meet the challenges of a new world. Although this year will continue to challenge the global economy, IT leaders seem to be excited to capitalize on the momentum these unprecedented times have generated.