Infoblox and Zogby Analytics unveiled research into the ongoing IT challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Half a year into the pandemic, companies in Australia are still playing catch up to optimise their remote work experience.
The survey involved 1,077 responses from decision makers in Australia, the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, China, Japan and Singapore. 77 respondents were from Australia.
Key survey findings include:
- The borderless enterprise is here to stay in Australia. 97% of Australian decision makers consider digital transformation and cloud managed services a priority. The percentage of companies with a majority of employees working remotely rose more than five times from 13% before the pandemic to 68% after. 32% of companies, more than triple the pre-COVID-19 rate, plan to permanently keep a majority of workers remote.
- Australian organisations are still building out their IT infrastructure and security controls to optimise remote work. Distributing sanctioned devices (34%), building network infrastructure (34%) and securing the network (31%) are the top IT challenges when transitioning to remote work.
- Threat mitigation and network visibility remain the top security concerns for the remote work environment in Australia. 79% of respondents say better threat detection and or mitigation technologies would enable more remote work for their organisations. Specifically, they are looking for better visibility into devices on the corporate network (74%), cloud applications workers are using (62%) and compromised devices (39%).
- Security incidents are rising. 55% of Australian businesses are seeing more cyber-attacks (compared to 47% globally), while 26% are seeing fewer.
- Companies in Australia are reversing policies to allow the use of personal applications to foster collaboration. 73% are allowing workers to connect with each other using applications like WhatsApp, Zoom, and Houseparty, compared to 63% globally.
- Companies in Australia are using cloud security tools, particularly from the DDI family (DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management), to secure the borderless enterprise. 73% plan on making additional investments in DNS to secure their expanded networks, compared to 59% globally.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, organisations in Australia rushed to enable remote work overnight,” said Matthew Hanmer, country manager and regional director, Australia and New Zealand at Infoblox. “Their top priority was making sure workers could connect to enterprise applications from their homes — sometimes through unsecured personal devices. While most can now accommodate the basics of remote work, it’s clear there’s a need for greater security controls.”
Hanmer added: “To meet that need, companies locally are turning to DNS to rapidly stand up a foundational layer of security for employees working from home. Using a hybrid DNS security solution like BloxOne Threat Defense, enterprises can create a ubiquitous layer of visibility and security across their expanded infrastructure.”