กรุงเทพฯ--27 มิ.ย.--PwC Thailand
Organisations that take a business-driven cybersecurity approach to their digital initiatives achieve better outcomes and outperform their peers, according to PwC's 2019 Digital Trust Insights Survey.
The global survey of more than 3,000 executives and IT professionals worldwide found that the top 25% of all respondents – market leaders known as "trailblazers" – are not only leading the way on cybersecurity but also delivering more value and better business outcomes.
Among respondents who say growing revenue is the top value sought from digital transformation efforts, nearly nine in 10 trailblazers say they are getting a payoff that meets or exceeds their expectations (compared to 66% of the other respondents).
Trailblazers are also significantly more optimistic about the potential growth in revenue and profit margin for their companies, with 57% percent expecting revenue to grow by 5% or more, and 53% expecting profit margin to grow by 5% or more.
The survey revealed key demographic information about trailblazers. Many are large companies; 38% of respondents from companies worth at least US$1 billion are trailblazers. The financial services (FS) industry and the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sector are particularly well represented in the leader group. Thirty-three percent of FS respondents and 30% of TMT respondents are trailblazers, compared to roughly a quarter of the survey base in other industries.
Geographically, just 21% of EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) respondents are trailblazers, compared to 30% in the Americas, and 30% in Asia Pacific.
The leading behaviours that set trailblazers apart from their corporate peers include aligning their business and cybersecurity strategies, taking a risk-based approach, and coordinating their teams that manage risk. Key findings from PwC's Digital Trust Insights survey illustrate the edge that trailblazers maintain in all three areas:
- Connected on strategy: 65% of trailblazers strongly agree their cybersecurity team is embedded in the business, conversant in the organisation's business strategy and has a cybersecurity strategy that supports business imperatives (vs. 15% of others)
- Connected on a risk-based approach: 89% of trailblazers say their cybersecurity teams are consistently involved in managing the risks inherent in the organisation's business transformation or digital initiatives (vs. 41% of others)
- Coordinated in execution: 77% percent of trailblazers strongly agree their cybersecurity team has sufficient interaction with senior leaders to develop an understanding of the company's risk appetite around core business practices (vs. 22% of others)
"By focusing on building digital trust, trailblazers are driving more proactive, pre-emptive and responsive actions to embed these strategies into the business, as opposed to their peers who primarily look to minimise the operational impacts of cyber threats in reactive manner," comments TR Kane, PwC US Strategy, Transformation & Risk Leader.
More than eight in 10 trailblazers say they have anticipated a new cyber risk to digital initiatives and managed it before it affected their partners or customers (compared to six in 10 of others).
"Organisations that take a proactive approach to cybersecurity and embed it into every corporate action will be best placed to deliver the advantages of digital transformation, manage related risks and build trust," adds Grant Waterfall, EMEA Cybersecurity and Privacy Leader, PwC UK.
"Our research highlights the need for organisations to embed their cybersecurity teams within the business to support strategic goals. It's not just about protecting assets – it's about being a strategic partner in the organisation," adds Paul O'Rourke, Asia Pacific Cybersecurity and Privacy Leader, PwC Australia.
Vilaiporn Taweelappontong, Consulting Lead Partner, PwC Thailand, says:
"Today, Thai businesses are increasingly active in digitisation, leading to a growing awareness of the risk of cyber threats. Companies realise that rising cyberattacks and security breaches, computer hacking and data misuse could cause unimaginable damage to their products and services – not to mention their image and brand.
"Since Thailand passed its Cybersecurity Act, we've seen many executives beefing up their cybersecurity efforts through upgrading cybersecurity systems and hiring outside experts to help implement preventive privacy measures. A lack of skilled talent, plus the inefficiency of existing cybersecurity teams, could still be a major challenge for Thai businesses. Closing these gaps will be essential to ensure compliance and for the Thai business to have stronger, more efficient cybersecurity strategies. This would ultimately lead to better performance in the longer term."