If you are worried about the future fortitude of the cybersecurity and data privacy efforts intended to protect your personal information, you are not alone. Lately, there has been an outcry of concern from consumers, media outlets, and politicians regarding that very issue.

These concerns are not falling on deaf ears. Recently, both Apple and Blackberry have touted new security features as a key differentiator and selling point for their products. You can read more from us about that here: The Enterprise Implications of Apple’s 2018 WWDC and Is Security and Privacy Finally Sexy? Blackberry Hopes So With Key2 Reveal. Moreover, Wall Street Journal just named Campbell, CA cybersecurity company Bitglass Inc. the leading contender on their Top 25 Tech Companies to Watch 2018 list. The cumulative weight of these developments offers some insight into the tech industry’s prioritization of the issue at hand.

While tech companies and key mobile stakeholders race to address growing cybersecurity threats, soon-to-be-published VDC research–our 2018 Enterprise Mobility Buyer Behavior Report–confirms that the growing fears are not unfounded and that they affect enterprise players across industries. These concerns consequently inhibit the adoption of mobile solutions that would be otherwise beneficial to any organization. The research shows that healthcare respondents voiced some of the loudest cybersecurity anxieties–and for good reason, as patient privacy and security compliance measures are demanding. Likewise, just over half of all healthcare respondents cite security policy compliance as the great challenge to managing their company’s mobile estate today, the top choice. That same issue was also claimed as the industry’s leading barrier to both the deployment of mobile solutions and the upgrading of existing mobile devices and applications.

Figure 1: Rate and rank of “security concerns” as barrier to mobile deployment

Source: 2018 Enterprise Mobility Buyer Behavior Report, VDC Research

Healthcare is certainly not the only industry to have their mobile initiatives held back by the looming threat of a hack or data breach. Most verticals in our 2018 Enterprise Mobility Technology Decision Maker Survey rank it as the single greatest obstacle to deploying mobile solutions, and it is also regularly named as a preventative force regarding the upgrading of mobile devices and applications. All of this strengthens WSJ’s choice to name a cybersecurity company as the top tech outfit to watch this year.

Our latest research shows that mobile initiative budgets and deployment rates are rising despite the hesitations discussed here. This means more mobile devices, applications, and networks–more cyberattack vulnerabilities. Perhaps it is because of their hyperawareness and concern about cybersecurity that enabled healthcare to be the only industry surveyed with improved rates of cyberattacks. At 17.1%, they enjoyed a 26.9% year over year decrease in affected establishments. Transportation organizations had it the worst time this issue; 49.5% say they experienced a cyberattack or data breach this year, a 136.5% increase since last year. Cybersecurity solutions by Bitglass Inc. and their contemporaries will increasingly be met with high demand and value as this issue continues its stint on the main stage of business concerns. According to our study, “too many new and emerging threats” is the greatest pain point when it comes to implementing cybersecurity.

More Info:
For more information on cybersecurity and extensive coverage of many other enterprise mobility trends, see VDC’s 2018 Enterprise Mobility Buyer Behavior Report based on our annual survey among mobile solution end users across healthcare, field service, warehousing, manufacturing, retail, transportation, and direct store delivery (DSD) operations.

View the 2018 Enterprise Mobility & Connected Devices Research Outline to learn more.