CIO 2021 Priorities: Cloud, Security, and Digital Transformation
StackShare Team
Ask any technology executive what their priorities are for the remainder of 2021, and the large majority will likely say some sort of combination of cloud computing, cybersecurity, and digital transformation.
And there are ample amounts of research reports and data to back this up.
From Deloitte showing that almost 50 percent of employees fall for phishing scams while working at home to Gartner predicting that cloud spend will increase by 23 percent this year alone, executives are zeroing in on ways to recover from the pandemic while increasing digital transformation efforts across the board.
In fact, the recently published Morgan Stanley Q2 CIO Survey clearly shows that cloud computing, security and digital transformation are the top priorities for CIOs as they enter into the second half of 2021.
The Acceleration of Cloud, Digital Transformation & Security
While the ripple effects of COVID-19 will be felt for years to come, the pandemic also introduced significant amounts of new technology -- and adoption has been rampant.
It was the catalyst for many companies to start adopting new technologies as disparate global talent worked primarily from home. Now, tech leaders need to be proactive about implementing new technologies as we will only experience future disruption across industries.
Let’s dig deeper into the top three priorities from the Morgan Stanley report -- cloud, security, and digital transformation -- and how technology executives can take a proactive approach to each to set themselves up for success for the remainder of the year.
Cloud Computing & Migration
It comes as no surprise that cloud computing is where global CIOs will spend the large majority of IT spend for the remainder of the year.
And for good reason. More than 75% of organizations have a cloud-first strategy, according to Gartner.
For organizations that relied heavily on legacy technologies prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 was a wake-up call for cloud migration.
However, accessibility for a disparate workforce is only one of the many reasons organizations opt to migrate to the cloud. Performance, cost savings and scalability also play a major role in an organization deciding to move to the cloud.
For organizations ready to make the jump, a successful cloud migration requires careful preparation and planning. Two of the biggest mistakes an organization can make prior to migrating to the cloud?
Minimal visibility and coordination.
The first step to successful cloud migration is to take inventory of your current house, and understanding current technology inventory is a crucial part of a successful cloud migration strategy.
Technology and engineering leaders must know where all applications live, the composition of those applications (what open source and SaaS solutions they use), and who is responsible for those applications, so they can successfully prioritize and execute a plan.
Private StackShare for Teams can help. From connecting to your Git repos to see the current technology you’re using in the planning phase to tracking the migration based on application usage, Private StackShare for Teams is a crucial part of any successful cloud migration.
Request a free demo of Private StackShare for Teams to see how it can be the air traffic control you need for your technology stacks.
Digital Transformation
In any given month, more than 10,000 people are searching for digital transformation strategies across the web.
And it’s not stopping any time soon. Taking a look at the popularity of digital transformation over the past five years, you can see a clear increase, according to Google Trends.
Digital transformation remains a CIO priority for the second half of 2021, according to the Morgan Stanley report, echoing sentiments from the last report, where digital transformation topped the list for tech leaders.
However, while CIOs are focusing on kicking off new digital transformation initiatives, many are stalled or stopped before true digital transformation can make any sort of impact.
According to McKinsey, only 14 percent of companies launching digital transformation efforts have seen performance improvements.
The culprit? Technology capabilities are not up to snuff.
Outdated, disparate, legacy technologies are rampant within enterprises. Many CIOs face major roadblocks to new transformation efforts because they don’t have full visibility into all the current technology that the workforce is leveraging.
In this case, what you don’t know can kill you...or any efforts you may have to launch a digital transformation.
Private StackShare for Teams lets you see all your tech and the people using it in one dashboard, including your tech stacks, tools, version, packages, and team members. Not only that, it alerts you any time a tech stack changes, so what was once a lack of visibility can now be a 360-degree view of your company’s technology usage.
Security Software
$137,000.
That’s the average cost of a data breach resulting from remote working, according to Deloitte.
This is primarily due to phishing scams and cyberattacks on video conferencing services.
And as we look towards the second half of 2021, Chief Security Officers (CSOs) are only looking to invest more in new technologies to combat security threats, according to Morgan Stanley.
Source: Morgan Stanley CSO Survey Q2 2021
However, as the chart below shows, threat mitigation doesn’t just come in the form of increased education to minimize phishing scams or advanced technologies to block weak points within your video conferencing software.
Source: Morgan Stanley CSO Survey Q2 2021
Vulnerability management also continues to be one of the top ten security priorities for the C-suite.
And with open source software components making up almost three-quarters of most organizations’ codebases, CSOs should be thinking about open-source vulnerabilities as part of a holistic vulnerability management strategy.
84% of codebases contain at least one open-source vulnerability, according to Synopsys’ 2021 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis (OSSRA) report.
Stay tuned for new features from Private StackShare for Teams that will automatically scan and flag vulnerabilities across your repos so you can minimize the number of vulnerabilities in your codebases.
Embrace Transformation with Private StackShare for Teams
“Rather than taking a reactive approach, where the IT team looks to cobble together technological responses to the challenges the business faces, successful technology teams are proactive and work alongside their business peers.” -- ZDNet
As we look to the second half of the year, technology leaders need to be proactive about new technology priorities.
Private StackShare for Teams can be the single source of truth for technology leaders to align and understand all current and future technology priorities.
