The results of IBM’s online survey of 556 IT managers from around the world are in: while 66% of the survey participants rated their organization’s overall approach to IT risk as good to expert, only about half of the companies surveyed have a formal risk management department in place.  The number one concern of those surveyed is IT security, specifically vulnerability to hackers and unauthorized access of the company systems.  And of the five emerging technologies, 64% cite social networking tools as their biggest worry.  Survey says: while companies around the world readily acknowledge the necessity of IT risk management and improvement, few are actually prepared for it.

Source: IBM Global Business Solutions

Date: September 2010

Link: ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03365usen/GBE03365USEN.PDF

Questions for discussion:

• Is competition for new IT business services outpacing the management of IT risk?
• One of IBM’s distinguished engineers said, “Each day spent testing IT services is one less day generating revenue and profit.”  Discuss the pros and cons of this point of view.
• List the five new emerging technologies and explain why social networking is considered the highest risk for a company.