2007 U.S. Technology Readiness Report Available for Download
PHOENIX, Ariz. ? July 9, 2007 ? Organizations in the U.S. and Canada express similar concerns about IT security breaches and rate security as a significant ongoing priority, according to separate research studies completed by Televerde, a premium provider of outsourced business-to-business customer acquisition solutions and actionable marketing intelligence. The company recently completed a Canadian survey on behalf of Quebec-based Channel Management International (CMI), then compared data from U.S. companies with similar demographics to compare and contrast the Canadian results. All respondents were IT professionals with decision-making authority for new technology acquisitions.
Most significantly, the research identified the following common key areas of concern: protecting wireless devices used by employees within and outside of the enterprise that may threaten an organization’s data; compliance with security regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); spam filtering and control, among others; and Internet security, including virus protection.
Neither American nor Canadian companies feel confident in their attack response and prevention measures. One in four respondents expressed an immediate need to strengthen IT security, and none rated their ability to protect against external and internal threats as a strong point.
But IT decision-makers on both sides of the border are responding by making security issues a priority. More than 75 percent of participants plan to spend at least $75,000 for security technology investments in the next 12 months.
Televerde also found that regulatory compliance as a driver of IT initiatives affects Canadian companies to a greater degree than their American counterparts. More than half of Canadian respondents said regulatory issues, such as Sarbanes-Oxley or PIPEDA regulations, factored into security decisions as compared with only 30 percent for American firms. Increasing pressure to become compliant is causing organizations to drop their “wait and see” attitude in favor of adopting tighter IT security measures.
Email spam continues to pose a security challenge for every organization in the Televerde surveys. More than two-thirds said that spam is a problem and that their current anti-spam solutions are not effective. Moreover, on average, four out every five companies are actively addressing the issue through planned purchases or upgrades.
“As the lines continue to blur between external and internal communications in the global supply chain, the importance of addressing and closing security gaps in both small and large enterprises has become a major responsibility for all,” explained Televerde’s President and CEO, James H. Hooker. “We need to do everything possible to avoid the ‘butterfly effect,’ whereby an initial small security breach could cascade and cause have devastating effects, such as the theft of sensitive customer data.”
The Canadian-based survey is “a very important study because it not only highlights the status of security in our activities, but also helps to identify the areas for immediate action,” said John Reid, president of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance. “Without the ability to prioritize, we would be paralyzed by fears of small as well as significant threats.”
The results of Televerde’s “U.S. Security Technology Readiness Report” and “Canadian Security Technology Readiness Report are available at www.televerde.com/resource_center/insight/.
About Channel Management International
Channel Management International ( www.cmi-inc.ca ) is a leading innovative Canadian Channel Management Company that creates sales opportunities for Canadian-based technology resellers and IT manufacturers. Experienced and knowledgeable in the Canadian market, CMI brings emerging and innovative IT security products to resellers that will differentiate them in the competitive Canadian market. CMI provides a responsive single point of contact for a range of vendors while delivering effective sales and technical support, guaranteed lead generation and customer-focused marketing programs that drive revenue, shorten sales cycles and reduce costs. Visit us online at: www.cmi-inc.ca.
About Televerde
Televerde is a premium provider of qualified sales leads, actionable marketing intelligence and integrated marketing solutions that collectively accelerate sales revenue and generate new customers in the B2B marketing arena. They have developed specialized expertise through more than 11 years of high-level dialogs with decision-makers in over one million companies. By leveraging an unduplicated blend of best practices, innovative technologies, intuitive reporting tools and continuous training, Televerde is able to deliver fully measurable ROI in a performance-based pricing environment. Its solutions portfolio is designed to achieve complex and strategic customer acquisition objectives. Core services are focused on meeting end-to-end sales and marketing requirements, including lead generation, lead qualification, lead management and nurturing, market research, event recruitment, sales support, win-loss analysis and outsourced sales. For more information, contact Televerde at [email protected] or 1-888-925-7526.
