42% of organizations Arne’t ready for cross-border compliance regulations – Tech Live Trends

Addigy, a provider of Apple device management solutions, has announced findings from its latest report, “Corporate IT in Focus”, revealing gaps in cross-border compliance readiness among organizations operating in and outside of the U.S. Of the global organizations surveyed, 42% said they are only “somewhat” ready to meet the requirements of new compliance standards.

The global regulatory landscape is quickly expanding and becoming more complex for corporations to navigate. Data protection frameworks (such as GDPR), payment standards (such as PCI DSS) and industry-specific guidelines (such as HIPAA and FERC) add levels of complexity to operations. At the same time, regulations are being more closely enforced, with violations ranging from being labeled as out of compliance to serious legal and monetary penalties. 

“Despite a growing emphasis on regulatory compliance and tougher enforcement, many corporate IT professionals and organizations remain unprepared — leaving them exposed to compliance breaches and high-stakes legal and monetary penalties,” says Jason Dettbarn, CEO of Addigy. “Preparing for an uncertain future requires partnering with a dedicated provider that promises both best-in-class support and the adaptability and agility to get ahead of unexpected changes.” 

Key findings from Addigy’s “Corporate IT in Focus” report include:

Mounting regulations make cross-border compliance a challenge 

• 40% of survey respondents operating outside of the US reported that their company is only “somewhat” ready to meet the requirements of global compliance standards.
• GDPR remains a top priority, with nearly 88% of all respondents revealing their company is more focused today than in the past on meeting compliance regulations.
• Cybersecurity and a growing number of complex new standards — from GDPR to payment cards (PCI DSS), cloud-specific controls (ISO 27017) and personal data protection (ISO 27018), among others — were cited as barriers to achieving cross-border compliance.

Cybersecurity underwriting requires data protections, that most organizations are not delivering today

• 91% of organizations reported they’re already using a cybersecurity insurance policy. But most insurance policies mandate specific features that MDM providers must adhere to to be compliant.  
• Among the organizations that don’t currently have cybersecurity insurance, 90% said they plan to secure a policy. 
• The growth of cybersecurity policies from nascent to essential underscores the impact of large-scale breaches and regulatory compliance standards in reshaping the landscape of business security.

Distributed workforces make navigating device management standards challenging

• The move to a dispersed workforce has created new challenges for inventory management, leaving corporate IT teams to support a broader range of devices.
• With Apple devices becoming more common in business networks, corporate IT teams can expect to feel the impact of shifting standards as Apple’s reliance on Declarative Device Management (DDM) increases. 
• Of the organizations surveyed, the three top concerns of corporate IT teams managing evolving device management standards include frequency of updates, security threats, and user-level challenges.

The findings in the “Corporate IT in Focus” report result from Addigy surveying 250 corporate IT decision-makers overseeing either mixed computing environments that include Mac devices or exclusively Mac environments at organizations operating in and outside of the U.S.