The C-Suite Report: Business and Security Strategies for Today’s Unbound Enterprise

Prior to 2020, we knew where digital transformation was taking us. However, due to the pandemic, the journey to cloud migration happened at light speed. As a result, businesses today are now less constrained by traditional network infrastructures and designated worksites, and their employees have the freedom to work wherever and whenever.

We call this the new era the Unbound Enterprise. Forcepoint partnered with Wall Street Journal Intelligence to survey more than 500 CEOs and CISOs around the globe for their insights on how business and security are forever changed in today’s distributed enterprise landscape.

Key highlights include:

Business and Security Landscape Forever Changed

• Cyber attacks on the rise –supply chain (60%), ransomware (54%), custom malware (57%), phishing (56%) and on
• Level of business disruption due to COVID –supply chain (59%), security (50%)

Hybrid Work Environments and Converged Security Capabilities Top of Mind

• Nearly all organizations adjusted their cyber strategy for the distributed enterprise
• Enterprises recognized the need for…
• Integrated “Trust Framework” to accommodate dispersion of users and devices (58%)
• Tightly integrated security capabilities that cross traditional product boundaries (53%)
• 48% substantially increased cloud-based cybersecurity systems

Security is a Business Enabler and Competitive Differentiator

• 55% report security accelerating digital transformation; 52% note it has created competitive advantage and enabled higher productivity across the organizations
• Enterprises that embrace this opportunity will see their business thrive versus just survive in the next 5-10 years

CEOs and CISOs are Bullish on SASE

• Analysts have estimated 60% of enterprises would be on a path to SASE by 2025, however COVID accelerated this timeline even further
• 90% of CEOs and 84% of CISOs indicated they have already adopted or were on a path to adopt SASE

Methodology/Respondent Profile

WSJ Intelligence, with sponsorship of Forcepoint, conducted a short quantitative study that was developed and fielded among 508 global CEOs and CISOs from December 2020 to January 2021. All U.S. respondents were from companies with $1B+ in revenue. 42% of APAC and EMEA respondents came from companies with $500M-$999M in revenue.

Download the report to find out more.