Over One Quarter of Organizations Have No Plans to Implement Cybersecurity Measures Despite Cybersecurity Remaining Top Concern

Survey Also Highlights a Continued Shortage of Security Knowledge and Skills, But Reveals a Promising Outlook for Power10 

Posted on January 26, 2023

MINNEAPOLIS – January 26, 2023 – Cybersecurity software and services provider Fortra today published findings from its 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey. Now in its ninth year, the survey reveals the trends shaping and driving the global IBM i market. In this year’s survey, 68% of respondents said the ongoing cybersecurity threat remains their number one concern, up from 62% last year, yet 27% do not plan to implement cybersecurity measures such as encryption, multi-factor authentication, antivirus, or ransomware protection to help address this growing concern. 

“Organizations that neglect to prioritize these security controls risk being brought to their knees by data breaches, ransomware, or other cyber attacks that prey on security vulnerabilities,” said Tom Huntington, Executive Vice President of Technical Solutions at Fortra. “If your organization has no plans to address these risks, we strongly urge you to rethink your approach.” 

In addition to continued concerns about cybersecurity, 48% of respondents said a lack of security knowledge and skills topped the list of the challenges organizations face. “The ongoing shortage of IT skills has hit the IBM i community hard, and we are seeing a rise in demand for managed security services to help bridge this gap,” continues Huntington. 

Businesses have begun their journey to Power10. 

This year’s survey also reveals a high level of satisfaction for the platform, with 95% stating IBM i delivers a great return on their investment. While only 16% of respondents said they have already migrated or are in the process of upgrading to Power10, 74% are strongly considering it.

“There’s no surprise that organizations are beginning to adopt servers running the Power10 processor, as we know there are tangible benefits to new hardware around security, virtualization, and high availability,” concluded Huntington. 

To access the complete 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey results, click here.

Notes to Editors

Methodology and Demographics
This survey represents the viewpoints of 300 IBM i professionals from around the globe across multiple industries and regions. This diverse sampling spans variability in budgets, company size, server size, operating system versions and experience levels to give a representative and diverse look at the worldwide IBM i market.

This year saw a balance between respondents from smaller organizations (less than 500 employees) and those coming from bigger ones (51% vs 49% respectively). In terms of the job titles of respondents, they are mostly cybersecurity professionals, IT managers, developers, and administrators, while under the “Other” option you may find titles like account manager, architect, and engineer.

Additionally, we saw an uptick in the number of respondents from Europe. Manufacturing and banking/finance are the top industries of our respondents this year.

About Fortra   
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