Firms in Asia Pacific & Japan See Security’s Key Role as Business Enabler for Market Entry and Innovative Service Delivery

Firms in Asia
Pacific & Japan See Security’s Key Role as Business Enabler for Market
Entry and Innovative Service Delivery

Study by CA
Technologies also highlights how adoption of advanced security, especially
identity-centric security, is critical for digital transformation

SINGAPORE, November
23, 2016 – Firms are measuring the success of IT security beyond
just breaches and compliances, a global study from CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA)
finds. They are now including business performance indicators that contribute
directly to revenue growth, with 87 percent of firms in Asia Pacific &
Japan (APJ) agreeing that the role of security is to enable them to enter new
markets and deliver services in new ways.

The study, The Security Imperative: Driving Business Growth in the App
Economy, polled 1,770 senior business and IT executives, of which more
than 100 are chief security officers and chief information security officers.
799 of the respondents were from countries in the APJ region, including
Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore,
South Korea and Thailand.

The majority of
survey respondents said that IT security, specifically identity-centric
security, needs to do more than protect the business in today’s environment –
it needs to help build trusted digital relationships that are critical for
competing in the application economy and growing the business.

·        87 percent of
respondents said that there is a need to balance strong security with enabling
their business to enter new markets and deliver services in new ways.

·        85 percent said
that identity-centric security is critical to the business.

·        84 percent said
that security needs to be frictionless and not over burden the user.

·        83 percent said
that security is critical to protecting the brand and can be viewed as a
competitive differentiator; and

·        More than 70
percent of respondents are using metrics such as digital reach, operational or
process efficiency, business growth, customer satisfaction, and a number of
compliance audit failures.

“For digital
businesses to thrive in the application economy, they need to drive new business
models and participate in new connected eco-systems of value,” said Stephen
Miles, chief technology officer, APJ, CA Technologies. “A good
identity-centric security strategy enables a business to accelerate that
objective with the confidence that great customer experiences are delivered,
whilst mitigating risks and protecting the business. To ensure a successful
digital journey, identity-centric security needs to be incorporated at the
start as a core technology enabler rather than bolted on as an IT afterthought.” 

Advanced Use of
Identity-Centric Security Reaps Business Benefits and Decrease in Data Breaches

The study also
examined respondents’ current security postures in three areas of
identity-centric security: the end-user experience, identity and access
management, and data breaches. This information allowed CA and Coleman Parkes,
who conducted the study, to create a maturity model for identity-centric
security, categorizing respondents as advanced, basic or limited.

Overall, the APJ
results categorized the majority of respondents as basic users of
identity-centric security (64 percent), with a focus on core capabilities such
as password management, single sign-on and some analysis and reporting. 28
percent were categorized as advanced users, engaging in capabilities such as
adaptive security and behavior analytics, and consistent omni-channel security
support.

While all users in
APJ saw improvements in their business from security initiatives, the survey
showed that advanced users generally reported more significant results
especially in areas of customer experience, business operations and security:

·        Advanced users saw a 58 percent improvement in business growth and new
revenue compared to 44 percent for basic users.

·        58 percent of advanced users reported improvement in employee
productivity versus 44 percent of basic users.

·        Advanced users reported a 49 percent improvement in number of compliance
audit failures as compared to 38 percent for basic users. 

·        And when it comes to security, almost thrice as many advanced users of
identity-centric security have seen a reduction in data breaches compared to
basic users – 35 percent versus 12 percent.

Notably, most advanced users of identity-centric security in APJ that
have seen a decline in breaches have been much more proactive in preventing
them through increased investment (86 percent), focusing on mobile devices and
apps (82 percent), implementing strong step-up authentication (73 percent), and
focusing on high-risk areas like privileged identities and access (68 percent).

Resources

·        The Security Imperative: Driving
Business Growth in the App Economy

·        The Security Imperative Infographic