90 Percent Of IT Decision Makers Think Identity And Access Management Is Critical In The Digital Transformation Process

Study finds that fewer than 10 percent of enterprise IT leaders have fully migrated to cloud, but 86 percent say it is critical to digital transformation initiatives

London. Ping Identity®, the leader in Identity Defined Security, today announced the availability of “The State of Digital Transformation Report 2016,” which highlights that digital transformation is a top priority and source of anxiety for enterprises, but the majority of IT decision makers have not completed technology deployments to address the initiatives that are critical to making the shift. Security and identity access management were respectively ranked the top two initiatives critical to digital transformation. The comprehensive report is available here and infographic is available here.

“Above cloud, mobile and IoT, enterprises view security and Identity and Access Management as the make-or-break factors for winning in the digital economy,” said Andre Durand, CEO of Ping Identity. “This research reveals how a company’s ability to succeed at everything fromdelivering personal, convenient and trusted mobile customer experiences to moving infrastructure to the more cost-efficient cloud hinges on having the right security measures in place, including secure access for employees, partners and customers.”

Building businesses that are fast, always-on and inherently digital is becoming the new norm across every industry due to the rise of SaaS, cloud and mobile technology. Companies are eliminating their data centres and moving their apps to Software-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service like AWS and Microsoft Azure. 100 year-old banks are rolling out mobile apps to compete with cloud- and mobile-first disruptors like Square and Stripe.

Ping Identity surveyed IT decision makers based in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and United States for a comprehensive report that details how the enterprises are prioritising initiatives to support digital transformation, including:

• Creating a consistent customer experience across devices and/or channels
• Providing mobile apps to customers and employees
• Using cloud services for saving documents rather than on-premises servers or VPNs
• Replacing legacy software with SaaS applications
• Migrating on-premises applications to Infrastructure-as-a-Service
• Engaging customers via smart, connected IoT services
• Moving the internal manufacturing supply chain online
• Onboarding partner organisations seamlessly

Cloud Remains a Top Priority, but Adoption is in its Infancy

The research revealed that cloud adoption is still nascent within the enterprise, but moving infrastructure to the cloud is a top digital transformation priority.

• Fewer than one in ten have fully migrated to the cloud. Half have started migrating to cloud infrastructure (either private or public).
• 86 percent say cloud adoption is important to their company’s success in digital transformation.
• 83 percent believe that moving infrastructure to the cloud should be a board level priority, and 81 percentbelieve moving infrastructure to the cloud should be a top priority for most companies today.

Security is the Top Imperative and Obstacle for Success

IT decision-makers view security as the most important element to successfully making the digital transformation, but also the greatest roadblock to adopting cloud infrastructure, another critical digital enabler. Consequently, IT decision makers report that they are allocating more resources to security with the rise of cloud adoption.

• 91 percent say security is very important to their company’s success in digital transformation, and half point to security as the mostimportant factor.
• 82 percent say security is more challenging as they’ve moved to the cloud.
• 67 percent have purchased more security tools as they’ve implemented cloud.

Identity is a Linchpin for the Digital Economy  

The study showed that IT decision makers view identity and access management technology as a key enabler of digital transformation.

• 90 percent say identity and access management technologies are critical to succeeding at digital transformation.
• After security, IAM was ranked the second most important factor in their company’s success in digital transformation
• 84 percent of respondents’ senior leadership think IAM is critical to adoption of cloud, and 89 percent agree that IAM is critical to mobility initiatives.

Methodology

Ping Identity conducted a survey of 200 IT decision makers in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany who are responsible for overseeing technology deployments. Survey respondents come from enterprises with at least 500 employees in the United States, and at least 200 employees in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The survey of 200 IT decision makers was conducted by Regina Corso Consulting online between August 26 and September 8, 2016.

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