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What do IT leaders see on the silicon horizon?

Unprepared for cyberattacks, cutting back on outsourcing, and boosting business intelligence – is the IT world of 2022?

A man uses a laptop at a coffee shop in downtown Hanoi. - AFP
A man uses a laptop at a coffee shop in downtown Hanoi. - AFP

What is going on inside the head of IT decision makers as they deliberate over the likely cybersecurity issues that could shape the year ahead? To probe the possibilities, the company Syntax asked 500 U.S.-based IT decision-makers about their priorities for 2022. It paints an interesting picture of where we can expect to see IT spend next year:

One general trend that is of concern if the rate of cybersecurity incidences is to fall and consumer confidence can expect to increase is that IT leaders remain underprepared for the new cybersecurity landscape.

This is evident in the poll finding that 81 percent of respondents experienced a cyberattack in the last year. Interestingly, respondents indicated they were most prepared to handle a phishing attack (60 percent were bold enough to declare said they were extremely prepared).However, when it came to deciphering the most commonplace form of cyberattack afflicting businesses, phishing was the most common type of attack reported.

The changing world of work also appears to have been impactful. When it comes to securing the hybrid workplace, almost half (43 percent) of respondents said they are only somewhat confident their company can keep them safe from cyberattacks.

In terms of business applications, data and storage, cloud spending remains high on the digital transformation list with ongoing hybrid work.  This is borne out by 94 percent of IT-leaders saying cloud spending was up due to the pandemic, and only 1% said they had no budget for cloud over the next year.

With IT procurement, it seems that outsourcing to partners will fall to the wayside. This is because managed service providers (MSPs) are the category slotted for the largest decrease in investment over the next year. Similarly, budget allocation for outsourced security operations centers is shrinking.

Where is the extra money to diverted? One area is with business intelligence spending, which is set to rise next year, but automation spending faces roadblocks. With this area of corporate spend, 44 percent of companies say they will make significant investments in business intelligence capabilities.

A second area is with automation. Here, nearly half (48 percent) have automated more than half of their business processes, but that number will only trickle up to 58 percent over the next five years, based on planned spending.

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Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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