Security flagged as top challenge for IT professionals in Canon Europe study

The results of the survey involving 1,709 IT decision-makers operating across seven markets (ie the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Nordics, the Netherlands and Spain) signal critical gaps within the digital make-up of many businesses today, duly highlighting the lack of visibility and control that IT decision-makers have over information and document processes.

Marc Bory, vice-president for digital printing and solutions, marketing and innovation at Canon Europe, explained: “Emerging technologies are currently reshaping what’s achievable in the hybrid workplace where information is exchanged in both digital and paper formats, accompanied by new expectations to manage. Information assumes a critical role in this context as it can determine how well businesses adapt and respond to these new opportunities.”

Bory added: “Our research shows how anxieties related to managing and protecting data, as well as a lack of productivity in document process management, can actively hinder IT teams from harnessing the full potential of their information to increase overall business value.”

Data anxiety

Anxiety related to managing data is clearly apparent in IT leaders’ confidence levels ahead of an audit. When asked why, two consistent themes emerged: a lack of control over employee behaviour and lack of visibility of documents and data. Both elements play a key role.

These concerns are not misplaced. Over one-third (36%, in fact) of leaders say they suspect or are otherwise aware of the fact that employees don’t always follow compliance rules (such as those laid down by the General Data Protection Regulation), while one-in-five (ie 17%) of IT decision-makers questioned reported experiencing an accidental employee breach in the last year. This is creating a strain internally, with over 50% reporting that IT security issues occupy a significant amount of their workday.

In fact, mitigating risk – and particularly so concerning IT security and compliance – continues to be front of mind for IT leaders. 60% of IT decision-makers place security in their top three greatest challenges, with over a quarter (28%) placing it as the foremost obstacle to be addressed.

Lack of real digital progress

IT decision-makers appear confident in their digital maturity, with 78% believing their organisations are already mature in terms of digital processes (meaning that they are running processes that are digitised and automated).

However, the wider research paints a different picture.

*Organisations were found to be in a similar position to 2022 levels of tracking, accessing, sharing and deleting documents for audit purposes

*Automatic access rights to documents (ie the most common capability) are only found in 53% of organisations, meaning that full adoption of automation for information and document process management is still some way off

*28% are still needing to manually fill out standardised organisational documents each time, with 26% of employees experiencing errors or inconsistencies caused by data silos

*One-in-ten leaders have abandoned implementation projects over the last two years due to challenges including compatibility issues (28%), delays (27%) and ongoing faults with the new technology (21%)

While the benefits that ‘digital’ can bring to a business are clear – nearly all those who’ve implemented automation (99%) report value far beyond compliance from working more efficiently (37%), improving employee experience (35%) and bolstering customer experience (34%) – these potential gains are not being fully realised.

Even though information management is recognised for increasing productivity, with 37% of IT leaders highlighting this as a key benefit, many IT decision-makers are not fully embracing available document management solutions. This lack of digital progress is hampering the potential of IT teams and creating a roadblock in terms of how much value they can provide.

Effective information management  

Tori Miller Liu, president and CEO of the Association for Intelligent Information Management, stated: “A digital-first world requires modern workplaces to be driven by high-quality and highly accessible information or unstructured data. However, managing an increasing volume of unstructured information in a hybrid environment is challenging. Effective information management is the answer: delivering enhanced visibility and control and greater compliance, while unlocking new opportunities from existing information.”

Marc Bory concluded: “Organisations are increasingly looking towards IT teams to help them deliver business value through the power of technology. Whether your organisation is a bank, retailer, start-up or an enterprise, the way in which it captures, processes and delivers information is going to be critical to its overall success. Customers must be able to take control of their information and document processes, in turn unlocking new efficiencies and achieving the sustainable growth that’s now expected of them.”

*Read the full Canon Europe report online by visiting the website at https://www.canon.co.uk/business/workspace/ims-research-report/