Industry leaders struggle to balance digital innovation and security

Companies are struggling with the tug-of-war between advancing digital innovation and ensuring secure digital experiences that maintain user trust and mitigate risk.

As part of a study of more than 350 global information technology leaders conducted by Forrester Consulting for Akamai, the results also show that the companies defined as being the most digitally mature – best balancing innovation and security – grow faster than their competitors.

Digital innovation sits at the helm of today’s complex enterprise environment. The study indicates that delivery of digital experiences is critical to competitive edge, customer satisfaction and even more importantly – achieving customer trust.

For any given enterprise organisation, meeting unique customer needs is a significant challenge – addressing disparate regions, network connectivity and device usage has complicated the ability to deliver secure, personalised digital experiences. The Forrester Consulting study examines how digital businesses across the globe and various industries align overall user experience and security with strategic priorities.

Important findings from the survey research include:

Digital struggles are a reality: A high number of executives reported difficulty in achieving the proper balance between security and digital experiences. Most respondents feel as though their firm is strongest in security and trust, but weakest in digital experience maturity.

Trust is at an all-time low: More than one third of surveyed executives feel they only have a moderate level of trust from their customers, due in large part to suspicion around a company’s data use practices.

Lack of trust attributed to lack of security, equates to lack of revenue: Customers are more comfortable sharing data with companies they actually trust; when firms fail to deliver on security, their brand reputation, customer trust and even revenue are negatively impacted. In fact, the study notes that even suspicion of a company’s data use practices can lead to a 25 percent reduction in revenues.