One Identity, a proven leader in identity-centered security, today released commissioned global survey results that reveal IT and security team attitudes regarding their responses to COVID-19-driven work environment changes. The results shed insight into IT best practices that have emerged in recent months, and how organizations rushed to adopt them to maintain a secure and efficient virtual workplace.
A free executive summary and key findings of the survey results announced today are available online here. Dimensional Research conducted the One Identity-commissioned research, which surveyed 1216 IT security stakeholders between August 20 and September 3, 2020.
According to the survey, IT security professionals universally (99%) said their organizations transitioned to remote work because of COVID-19, and only a third described that transition as “smooth.” Better than six in ten (62%) respondents indicated that cloud infrastructure is more important now than 12 months ago. Thirty-one percent attributed this shift directly to COVID-19. The cloud has become front and center to the new working reality, creating flexibility for employees. These results demonstrate that the previous level of attention to cloud deployments, while notable, does not appear to have been nearly enough to accommodate the dramatic computing shift across organizations.
“This research makes it clearly evident that cloud computing has been a lifesaver for many enterprises as IT teams pivoted and supported the massive shift to working away from offices,” said Darrell Long, president and general manager at One Identity. “While we knew the pandemic-driven changes were sudden, what was particularly notable was how strongly the results proved that organizations had to turn their focus on the immediate challenges presented by the aggressive move to cloud computing, chiefly finding solutions that streamlined administering and securing who has access to what and how.”
Shifts in priorities indicate organizations are turning their focus on tackling the security basics. When compared to 12 months ago, 50% of respondents are placing a higher priority on access request technologies, and 31% said this change in prioritization is because of COVID. Identity/access lifecycle management, identity process and workflow, and role management all saw increased priority among at least half of those surveyed.
Perhaps shell shocked, only 45% of IT security professionals indicated they are prepared for the IT changes necessary when their employees move back to organizations’ offices, according to survey results. Yet, two thirds (66%) expressed increased confidence in the effectiveness of their identity management programs post COVID-based changes.
“We now know the truth: the COVID pandemic did not change the need to be productive, nor did it change the regulatory compliance requirements companies face, but clearly IT and security teams scrambled to shift their systems to accommodate work from home in a secure and controlled way,” said Long. “Companies and organizations were helped to an extent by cloud investments that prepared them pre-COVID. However, most of them are still dealing with new challenges as employees adapt, IT and security teams effectively respond to the challenge of providing effective processes for gaining access to the resources needed for the workforce to do their jobs and security challenges associated with this new working environment.”
An in-depth analysis of the survey study – “And the Survey Says: Insights gained from the annual One Identity Global Survey” presented by Todd Peterson, IAM Evangelist – will be presented during the live session of One Identity’s UNITE virtual user and partner conference, starting at 11 am EST/5 pm CET on November 10, 2020. Registration is free through the online site.
About the 2020 One Identity Global Survey: “Identity Governance and Administration for the New Computing Normal”
Conducted by Dimensional Research, One Identity’s 2020 Identity Management and Governance study surveyed IT security professionals from midsize and large enterprises on their current experiences, trends and approaches to Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) and Application Lifecycle Management attitudes – especially in regard to responding to COVID-19-driven work environment changes . The study consisted of an online survey of IT professionals in midsize or large organizations with responsibility for security and who are very knowledgeable about IAM and privileged accounts. A total of 1,216 individuals from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, BeNeLux, Nordics, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong completed the survey. Responses were captured between August 20, 2020 and September 3, 2020.
About One Identity
One Identity, a Quest Software business, lets organizations achieve an identity-centered security strategy with a uniquely broad and integrated portfolio of identity management offerings including AD account lifecycle management, identity governance and administration and privileged access management. One Identity empowers organizations to reach their full potential, unimpeded by security, yet safeguarded against threats. One Identity and its approach is trusted by customers worldwide, where more than 7,500 organizations worldwide depend on One Identity solutions to manage more than 125 million identities, enhancing their agility and efficiency while securing access to their systems and data – on-prem, cloud or hybrid. For more information, visit http://www.oneidentity.com.
Media Contacts:
Andrea Ipolyi
One Identity/Quest Global PR
Andrea.Ipolyi@oneidentity.com
Molly Hanrahan
Highwire PR
913-568-2831
molly@highwirepr.com
