Organizations have been broadly and enthusiastically adopting initiatives involving artificial intelligence, and the maturity of those initiatives within business operations is on the rise. Recent research by TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group found two key drivers of these trends: anxieties that businesses will miss out on the advantages of generative AI (GenAI) and the increasing focus of vendors and partners on simplifying their products and services.
Cybersecurity
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As cyber-attacks continue unabated, the global population depends upon cybersecurity professionals to protect them from a global army of state-sponsored actors, cyber-criminals, hacktivists, and script kiddies alike. Unfortunately, cybersecurity teams are often understaffed, lacking advanced skills, and working in an environment of constant pressure. To gain further insight into these trends, TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) surveyed 301 IT and cybersecurity professionals at organizations all over the world.
This study sought to answer the following questions:
- Why has working as a cybersecurity professional become more difficult today than it was two years ago?
- How satisfied are cybersecurity professionals at their current jobs? What are the biggest factors for determining their level of job satisfaction?
- How likely are cybersecurity professionals to leave their current job in 2023 for any reason, including retirement, career change, and leaving for another cybersecurity job?
- How do cybersecurity professionals characterize the stress level typically associated with their careers?
- What are the most stressful aspects of jobs/careers as a cybersecurity professional?
- What actions do cybersecurity professionals believe would be the most helpful for the advancement of their careers?
- How would cybersecurity professionals characterize the cybersecurity culture at their organization?
- At any time in their career, have cybersecurity professionals experienced a situation in which the organization they worked for was knowingly ignoring security best practices and/or regulatory compliance requirements? If put in that situation, would these cybersecurity professionals be willing to act as whistleblowers?
- How has the global cybersecurity skills shortage impacted cybersecurity professionals’ organizations? How do they think that has changed over the last two years?
- What actions do cybersecurity professionals believe could be taken to address the impact of the cybersecurity skills shortage?
- How difficult is it for organizations to recruit and hire cybersecurity professionals?
- Do organizations have a chief information security officer (CISO), or similar position, in place today? To whom does the CISO report? What do cybersecurity professionals believe is the most important quality of a successful CISO?
- Do cybersecurity professionals think their organization’s CISO’s level of participation with executive management and the board of directors is adequate?
- How would cybersecurity professionals characterize the working relationships between their organization’s cybersecurity and IT departments and between cybersecurity and lines-of-business groups?
- Which actions do cybersecurity professionals believe their organization could take to improve cybersecurity programs?
Survey participants represented a wide range of industries including manufacturing, technology, financial services, and retail/wholesale. For more details, please see the Research Methodology and Respondent Demographics sections of this report.
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Discover what’s trending on our network to engage IT buyers in market now and improve marketing and sales effectiveness. This report covers trending areas of interest across 240+ IT markets over the last 6 months (April 2023 – September 2023) in five (5) regions across the TechTarget & BrightTALK network: WW, NA, EMEA, APAC, LATAM.
In this report you will find:
• The top 20 broad technology markets driving the most activity in the past 6 months. Activity data can help show where audience research is growing or declining and therefore help reinforce which markets are on the rise or declining.
• The top 25 granular topics growing the most across the TechTarget and BrightTALK network in the last 6 months. This gives insight into the content areas that are on the rise right now to leverage in your conversations.Already an Enterprise Strategy Group client? Log in to read the full report.
If you are not yet a Subscription Client but would like to learn more about accessing this report, please contact us.
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Our more mobile, distributed workforce has become dependent on a diverse collection of digital communication and collaboration tools, expanding the attack surface and creating new opportunities for adversaries to evade security controls. Many organizations currently lack visibility and control of one or more of the many tools their workers depend on. While email security strategies remain critical, new, more comprehensive security strategies are needed that are capable of monitoring and protecting sensitive data and access to both sanctioned and unsanctioned tools.
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Despite ongoing advancements to cloud-delivered, native email security controls, organizations still view email as the most vulnerable to attack compared to other communication and collaboration mechanisms. Research by Enterprise Strategy Group also showed that most organizations have encountered challenges and gaps in their primary email security solution. As threats continue to penetrate security controls, organizations are using a layered approach that most commonly includes the addition of third-party controls.
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Women in Cybersecurity
An interactive community designed to spotlight women in cybersecurity and celebrate their achievements and contributions.
In this video, Enterprise Strategy Group’s Senior Analyst Melinda Marks and Senior Account Director Johanna Schlegel share their experiences as women in the cybersecurity industry and what they are excited about as we build this new community.
For more information, be sure to read Melinda’s blog on the inspiration behind this initiative and where she explores:
- Do we really need another women’s forum?
- Our goals for this community (it’s simple: women supporting women).
- How you can join us and get involved!
Join the community!
If you are interested in participating in an interview about your experience as a woman in the cybersecurity industry, or would like to nominate someone else, please complete the form below and mention Women in Cybersecurity.
All fields are required.
I’m confident in my skills and achievements. I want to be recognized on a level playing field. I am comfortable competing with men for jobs or for recognition. I don’t want to be selected for something based on my gender because of someone’s requirement to recognize more females…But let’s face it, women are underrepresented in our field.”
Melinda Marks
Enterprise Strategy Group Senior AnalystWomen Inspiring Women
Melinda Marks and Fleur Chapman, COO of ITC Secure discuss:
- How Fleur was recruited into a cybersecurity role due to her experience in previous roles
- Her biggest challenges both internally and with customers
- Her advice to be confident in yourself and your ability
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!
Melinda Marks and Tanya Janca, Founder & CEO of We Hack Purple Community discuss:
- Tanya’s computer programming background that began in childhood
- The experiences that led her to write her first book, Alice and Bob Learn Application Security
- The importance of diversity in the cybersecurity industry
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!Melinda Marks and Barbie Bigelow, CEO at Emerald Growth Partners, LLC discuss:
- How Barbie got into cybersecurity by operational necessity
- Keys to success throughout her career journey
- Launching the Women Cyber Governance Collaborative
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!
Melinda Marks and Wendy Thomas, CEO at Secureworks discuss:
- What got you into this field, and what do you like about it?
- You have a background in finance and business. Does that shape what you do today?
- Can you tell me about Secureworks and the roles that you had there when you joined?
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!Alex Arcilla and Gisela Hinojosa, Pentester at Cobalt discuss:
That working in cybersecurity is really THE thing to do right now. The opportunities seem endless. But exactly what paths can you pursue when entering a field that is constantly evolving?
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!Melinda Marks and Vandana Verma Sehgal discuss:
- How Vendana got her start working in security operations
- Her involvement in OWASP—leading to becoming the first female chair of the board!
- Vendana’s passion for bringing more diversity to infosec
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!Melinda Marks and Elizabeth Gossell discuss:
- The evolving security challenges that come with M&A efforts, scaling, and sprawl
- Liz’s experience in cybersecurity that started with an internship
- Why career development and being a strong advocate for yourself is so critical for women
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!
Melinda Marks and Caroline Wong discuss:
- Caroline’s experience in the cybersecurity industry
- Her advice on team culture and diversity in the workplace
- Overcoming toxic work environments, work-life and family balance, resilience, and trusting our future selves to overcome these challenges
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!Melinda Marks and Sharon Goldberg discuss:
- Sharon’s move from engineering to computer science and internet security
- What motivated her to go from tenured professor to cofounder and CEO of BastionZero
- How much progress has been made for women in the fast-moving cybersecurity industry
Want to hear more? Listen to the full interview here!
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Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) recently stormed the market and mindshare of decision makers across industries and major geographic markets. Business leaders see a massive opportunity to positively impact operations and customer strategies with GenAI, but its adoption and use across all business units carry a fair share of trepidation.
Learn more about these trends with the infographic, Beyond the GenAI Hype: Real-world Investments, Use Cases, and Concerns.
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Application developers are challenged with efficiently creating innovative solutions while managing time constraints, which can be mitigated by the transformative impacts of generative artificial intelligence (AI) streamlining code generation and accelerating development processes. Organizations have integrated generative AI (GenAI) into their operational setup to accelerate code creation, refine code structures, elevate code quality, and deliver personalized customer experiences. By harnessing GenAI, application developers tackle issues by capitalizing on the technology’s ability to automate tasks, drive creativity, and deliver innovative solutions.
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About This Report
This report covers trending areas of interest across 240+ IT markets over the last 6 months (January 2023 – June 2023) in five (5) regions across the TechTarget & BrightTALK network: WW, NA, EMEA, APAC, LATAM.
- Top 20 markets driving activity
- Represents the top 20 broad technology markets driving the most activity in the last 6 months. Activity data can help to show where audience research is growing or declining and therefore help reinforce which markets are hot or declining.
- 25 topic areas on the rise
- Shows the top 25 granular topics growing the most across the TechTarget network in the last 6 months. This gives insight into the content areas that are on the rise right now.
Discover what’s trending on our network, which you can leverage to engage IT buyers in market now and improve marketing and sales effectiveness.
Already an Enterprise Strategy Group client? Log in to read the full report.
If you are not yet a Subscription Client but would like to learn more about accessing this report, please contact us.
- Top 20 markets driving activity
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Research Objectives
- Determine the current market state of generative AI, including adoption and budget strategies.
- Identify current and planned GenAI use cases and prioritization across organizations.
- Understand key challenge areas with GenAI and investment requirements to address them.
- Investigate key areas of application and focus for GenAI technologies, including cybersecurity, application development, analytics, and customer experience. (more…)
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Research Objectives
While AI in general was already assimilating into the everyday business and IT lexicon thanks to ongoing AI and analytics strategies and initiatives, GenAI recently stormed the market and mindshare of decision makers across industries and major geographic markets. Business leaders see a massive opportunity to positively impact operations and customer strategies with GenAI, but its adoption and use across all business units carry a fair share of trepidation.
Most organizations are aware of GenAI, and a rising percentage are currently formulating strategies to both harness the technology’s benefits and control its use to prevent data quality issues and information leaks. To assess the state of GenAI strategies and plans, TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group surveyed 670 IT professionals and business decision makers in North America (65%), EMEA (18%), APAC (16%), and LATAM (2%) involved with generative AI initiatives in their organization. This study sought to answer the following questions:
- What is the status of GenAI initiatives within organizations?
- How are organizations using, or planning use, large language models (LLMs) to support GenAI initiatives?
- Are organizations allocating, or planning to allocate, budget to support GenAI initiatives? If so, what is the percentage of IT budgets allocated to GenAI?
- In which lines of business are organizations currently applying GenAI? Moving forward, which of these areas will benefit most from the use of GenAI?
- Which teams or stakeholders actively contribute to shaping GenAI initiatives in organizations?
- What technology investments are needed to support GenAI initiatives?
- What do organizations identify as the primary benefits of using GenAI in their environments?
- What are the most prioritized use cases for GenAI, particularly in environments where the technology is applied across multiple areas?
- What are the biggest challenges organizations face in GenAI implementations?
- In which areas do organizations feel they need to invest (time and/or money) to support the use of GenAI?
- What type of third parties do organizations currently, or plan to, work with to support GenAI initiatives?
- Are organizations more or less likely to consider vendors that incorporate GenAI capabilities as part of their products or services?
- How much more, if at all, are organizations willing to pay for a product or service that uses GenAI versus a comparable product or service that does not use GenAI?
- What types of information or media would help organizations assess GenAI?
- For which application development use cases are organizations using, or planning to use, GenAI? What about use cases for security and customer experience (CX)? Where will investments be made?
- How do, or will, organizations ensure the security and privacy of data used in GenAI models?
- For which security use cases are organizations using, or planning to use, GenAI?
- Which areas of the analytics lifecycle will benefit most from the use of GenAI?
Survey participants represented a wide range of industries, including financial, manufacturing, retail/wholesale, and healthcare, among others. For more details, please see the Research Methodology and Respondent Demographics sections of this report.
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Increased IT complexity and the need to focus resources on strategic initiatives are pushing IT leaders to embrace product options that support technology convergence and platform consolidation. Integrated solutions from multiple vendors are a viable option to achieve those goals. Research from TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group found that boosting IT team productivity is the leading business driver for buying integrated solutions and that business expectations are being fully met or exceeded in a majority of cases.
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