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Why digital transformation demands a security-first approach

Successful digital transformation demands security and visibility – and partners are in the best position to deliver

You can’t secure what you can’t see. And when talking about something as critically important as digital transformation, that lack of visibility can be catastrophic.

The threats faced by business are increasing rapidly: the 2018/19 BDO-AusCERT Cyber Security Survey of 500 Australian and New Zealand businesses found the incidence of theft and data loss incidents increased by 78.7 per cent in 2018.

Detection of these security incidents, and a rapid and effective response to those incidents, can be the difference between being able to stop a breach while it’s in progress and reading about it in tomorrow’s newspapers.

Visibility, therefore, is fundamental to ensuring the security of your digital transformation. Without it, a breach of core operational systems can snowball into a major business problem that compromises the promise of that transformation.

Managing the risk of transformation failure

Businesses require security solutions that provide both an agile defence spanning existing legacy systems as well as next-generation cloud-based environments. These solutions must also comply with regulations such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Australia's Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme.

In addressing security, the solution must address all core operational domains – data, network, cloud, application, endpoint, policy management and monitoring/response – and provide ongoing visibility into all of them. Failure to develop a comprehensive visibility and security strategy, and supporting architecture, leaves businesses vulnerable to data breaches and potential compliance violations.

Despite best intentions, many digital transformation efforts fail – and inadequate security is a major contributor. According to McKinsey & Company less than 30 per cent of digital transformation efforts succeed. In traditional industries – such as oil and gas, automotive and infrastructure – the success rate is between four and 11 per cent.

Yet managing the risks associated with digital transformation requires a level of technological and enablement capability, skill and expertise that some partners may not have – particularly in areas such as security and visibility, which have become more complicated than ever thanks to increasingly complex business architectures.

The partner proposition

To give your customers the best chance of a successful and secure digital transformation, it’s important to work with a partner that can provide the necessary skills.

Arrow ECS ANZ has been working closely with partners and their customers to augment their capabilities to deliver comprehensive security solutions that provide the end-to-end visibility that is needed to digitally transform.

The distributor’s approach to security, and digital transformation, emphasises visibility and control – because you can’t control what you can’t see. And you can’t secure what you can’t control.

In an effort to raise awareness of the visibility opportunity, Arrow ECS ANZ has developed an eBook that highlights the security landscape, the cost of cybercrime and how partners can help their customers create a winning strategy for success.

Arrow ECS ANZ has a long history in providing the channel with advanced security solutions.

With its portfolio of leading security technology vendors, the distributor provides end-to-end security solutions and professional enablement support that promotes continuous improvement.

This ensures security policies are both responsive to changes in the threat environment and proactive in minimising risk.

To learn more about Arrow’s approach to security and the partner opportunity, download the eBook, Securing the unknown with visibility and control.