For the first time, information security emerged as the number one concern related to technology among financial executives surveyed, replacing "prioritizing technology investments," which dropped to number two. Only one in five chief financial officers (CFOs) are "highly satisfied" with their security programs.
"Companies recognize how vulnerable they are," said Jerry Boltin, a senior partner and the Business Intelligence practice leader in CSC's Consulting Group. "They see the growing number of news articles about customer information being accessed or stolen and they wonder, 'If these guys can be breached, how secure are we?'"
The survey also found that overall information technology (IT) spending is expected to increase modestly throughout the next year, and companies are planning a number of new outsourcing and in-sourcing (shared services) agreements.
All forms of outsourcing are expected to continue, according to the survey, and the use of shared services continues to increase. Human resources outsourcing was ranked as the top area of planned outsourcing activity, followed by payroll and IT outsourcing, which remained the top two most commonly outsourced business functions. About 90 percent of respondents rated their outsourcing arrangement as successful. "One of the drivers of the continued movement toward outsourcing is the consistently high overall ratings outsourcing has received among those that have done it," said Boltin.
