Feature Disruptive Technologies Read more online at www.securitymattersmagazine.com
Transformation Nation
Disruption is coming for every organisation at some point and every business leader
needs to be prepared to embrace it. The COVID-19 pandemic is just the latest example.
Turning disruption into an opportunity rather than seeing it as a threat can be
achieved with careful and targeted effort. Here, Malou Toft concentrates on some of
the steps that are important to consider when it comes to the security sector
No-one could have anticipated
COVID-19 or, indeed, its incredibly
disruptive impact on our society. That’s
the tricky thing about disruption. You
cannot prepare for it. However, as a
silver lining, crises tend to breed
innovation and both help to discover
markets and build businesses into
something that, eventually, becomes
stronger, more efficient and robust.
Look at the global financial crisis of
2007-2008. Although this was an
exceptionally challenging time for
business leaders, it gave birth to many of
the tech unicorns we regularly interact
with today. Airbnb, for example, was
founded in August 2008. Pinterest
followed in December 2009. If you look
even further back at other recessions,
you’ll see a familiar pattern emerge with
the likes of Apple, Microsoft, CNN,
IBM, Burger King and even Disney.
Therefore, as businesses navigate
through a tumultuous 2020 and the
immediate short-term decision-making
required for survival, it’s important that
they think about the long-term as well.
Regardless of the pandemic, a clear
disruption that will impact the tech and
security sector is the acceleration of
digital transformation. With COVID-19,
businesses have had to accelerate their
digitalisation efforts that were originally
expected years down the line. Indeed,
some estimate that digital
transformation was sped up by a couple
of years in the first two months of the
global lockdown alone (to the positive
surprise of many Chief Information
Officers, one might well suspect).
As the pandemic took hold,
organisations and consumers alike
increasingly relied on technology in
order to carry on transacting their work,
social lives and connections. They will
continue to do so to the point where it’s
highly doubtful we’ll return to the office
with the ‘business as usual’ outlook that
we once all recognised so readily.
For the security sector itself, this
sheds light on – and adds another
dimension to – the protection of people,
assets and property. With more
individuals working remotely, security
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