Dive Brief:
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A majority of retail CEOs see their business as being highly disrupted: 59% say there are major changes in distribution channels, 68% say there are major changes in customer behaviors, 57% say there’s an increase in the number of significant direct and indirect competitors, and 50% say there are changes in industry regulation, according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ 18th annual CEO survey.
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Meanwhile, 81% of CEOs see utilizing mobile technology for customer engagement as a top strategy for their organization, 80% view data mining and analysis as the most important, and 78% say cybersecurity, the report found. And the survey found that CEOs believe that their digital efforts are paying off. 86% see their own embrace of technology as key to any digital-related success.
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But this enthusiasm to embrace disruption through new technologies may not be extending to security efforts, PwC found in another report. Just 56% of retail executives surveyed have the technology necessary to secure remote access software, down from 69% in 2013, and just 45% have a program in place against social media phishing attacks.
Dive Insight:
Retail CEOs seem to have embraced the idea that disruption can be a boon their business, as long as they invest in the technologies that will allow them to join the party. But it’s worrying that cyber-security seems to be suffering something of a deficit when it comes to retailers’ tech investments. Perhaps this is a case of eating dessert before the vegetables.
Security incidents, including high-profile data breaches, at retailers were up 19% in 2014, but data security budgets had declined the year before, according to PwC’s 2015 Global State of Information Security Survey. In this research, PwC also found “shortcomings in data governance, increasing threats from third parties and insiders, and a lagging commitment to key strategic security practices.”
In any case, as the use of mobile technologies increases, mobile security issues will likely only follow. With consumers already leery of data security at retailers, as PwC notes, this disconnect could spell trouble.