Siloed Tech Prompts Security Worries

IT leaders are concerned that employing multiple technology management systems could increase security blind spots and cyber risk, according to new research.

A snapshot survey, conducted in January 2022 by Gatepoint Research and funded by Enterprise Technology Management (ETM) solutions provider Oomnitza, questioned IT leaders from 100 enterprises of more than 5000 employees across industries in the United States. 

The Tech Blind Spots Survey determined that while 76% of enterprises are using multiple systems to find inventory data about different technologies, 71% anticipate increased security breaches and associated costs.

IT leaders were found to have operational concerns associated with siloed technology management, chief of which were non-secure and lost endpoints, unaccounted for or incorrect data on assets and poor visibility into asset status. They were also worried about overspending on software and cloud resources and the potential impact of such a management system on compliance adherence.

Asked about their software as a service (SaaS) oversight, a quarter of IT leaders said their enterprise uses more than 100 SaaS applications. Around a sixth of IT leaders (15%) reported that their enterprise uses more than 200 SaaS applications.

Reporting on the business impact of their enterprise’s tech management set up, survey respondents said money was wasted on software licenses or cloud services and time was lost tracking down asset status/details. Unaccounted assets, delays onboarding/offboarding employees and compliance audit fines and exposure led to the squandering of further spending.

More than half (52%) of IT leaders said that they intend to take corrective action for technology management this year. A few (11%) have already set projects to achieve this aim in motion.

Describing the management capabilities they desired, IT leaders cited unified technology view and data, comprehensive asset discovery and tracking, security policy enforcement and lifecycle process automation, and mechanisms to improve employee experience as key areas of focus.

“The siloed and costly ways enterprise organizations manage their IT estate today are affecting IT service delivery and satisfaction, budgeting and audit efficacy, and attack surface management integrity,” said Arthur Lozinski, CEO and co-founder of Oomnitza. 

“The survey findings serve to raise awareness of increasing enterprise technology management challenges and how IT leaders are responding.”