Recent cyberattacks, are pushing organisations to invest more into their cybersecurity solutions. For example, the ransomware attack on the Eurofins Forensic Services which stopping court cases and investigations dead in its tracks, creating a backlog of 20,000 samples. 

Add this to new regulations directly needing organisations to up their cyber security or face huge fines and you have a greater importance on cyber solutions and therefore your IT budget. 

Here’s how recent developments (both good and bad) in trends, business, and legislation are affecting the IT budget. 

Changes to the IT budget 

IT budgets are seeing shifts in allocation segments due to new cyber threats and regulations affecting businesses across the board. 

GDPR

GDPR compliance continues to be a pressing concern for institutions dealing with sensitive information, affecting SMBs and enterprises alike. Gartner has identified that at least 30 percent of businesses will increase GDPR-related spending by investing in implementation services and consultations with security specialists.  

Implementation of security solutions enabling an increase in control over sensitive data and a better overview of how it’s accessed will be the primary concern, especially in cloud environments that enable remote access to sensitive data. 

Upgrading Legacy Systems

Spiceworks identified outdated technology as the primary reason for IT budget increases, followed closely by security upgrades due to incidents. While EU-based organisations are focusing on GDPR compliance and are allocating additional funds towards security, North American organisations increase their budgets to upgrade outdated systems. 

Gartner also reports that subscription and managed services will comprise almost half of the security software used across institutions, with Security-as-a-Service seeing an increase in uptake over on-premise security solutions. 

Hybrid solutions (having both cloud and on-premise features) are being a serious consideration for many organisations. Still, on-premise deployment remains on top for now.

Increased Allocation on Cybersecurity in Budgets

IT budget spending on cybersecurity is expected to grow by 8.7% compared to only 3.2% growth in general IT spending. 

The most demanded security services will be identity and access management, data loss prevention and identity governance and administration.

What Should Be the Primary Focus for the Organisational IT Budget? 

Ensuring compliance with new regulations and identifying cyber threats that are the highest risk should be considered as a necessary first step towards a safer environment, both online and on-premise.

The risk assessment should be company-wide to ensure all risks are identified and all data locations are included. The IT department must work together with security specialists to determine the highest priority IT solutions to implement.  

Getting Approval from the Board Requires Preparation

Ensuring buy-in from board members is a crucial step in the process. Without their support, IT departments will struggle with ensuring compliance and implementing systems that deal with new cyber threats. 

Board member buy-in can be secured by educating them on the impact of identified risks and how new IT solutions minimise them. Showing real cyber security ROI. 

IT managers must ensure the board is knowledgeable of how much avoiding the issue can hurt the organisation by presenting scenarios where risks are quantified and presented in terms of financial and market impact.

Compliance to regulations often means upgrading existing systems or a complete overhaul of organisational operations, which requires substantial resources. Yet, it still remains the preferable option compared to paying high fines and suffering a huge setback.