According to the latest forecast by Gartner, Security and risk management, application and integration strategies and infrastructure and operations are the top three technology priorities for midsize enterprises (MSEs) in 2022.

As MSE technology leaders head into the 2023 budgeting season, they face challenges including inflationary headwinds and a potential economic recession. Due to the size and scale of their operations, MSEs are often the first to feel the effects of inflation and are most susceptible to long-term negative impacts.

The accelerated rate of change witnessed over the past two years complicates the selection of new tools, MSEs are shifting investments adjusting their budgets to fund their top technology priorities as they look to solve the more complex business challenges. and Gartner has predicted that leaders will have to be far more careful with their investments and strategic with their selection of security providers.

Michael Smith, CTO, Neustar Security Services: “MSEs are typically hard to defend due to their structure. Unfortunately, they do not always have access to cybersecurity staff and often lack the economies of scale or even the market size to attract vendors who can help them, so it is extremely hard to find service providers that can assist.

“Whilst some providers have finally started working in this market, which is positive to see, it is still very much in its infancy, which leaves businesses incredibly vulnerable to attackers. Moving forwards, MSE leaders and IT teams need to focus on managed devices – a computer that regularly receives A-V updates or OS patches, regularly monitoring status and logs which are reported and assigned to a member of staff and regularly backed up.

“The threat landscape has evolved significantly and medium-sized enterprises are starting to realize the damage and disruption attackers can pose to their services. All organizations regardless of their size, should be committed to best current practices (BCPs) and know that they are responsible for their customers’ data. As this report suggests, business leaders are starting to review their defense technologies and mitigation plans that they have in place to protect their infrastructure.

“Given, MSE leaders will have to rapidly operationalize their investments if they are looking to deliver time to value and keep up with the accelerated rate of change we have witnessed since the start of the pandemic – especially if they are looking to stay ahead of the more dangerous threats and attack methods that are emerging,” Smith added.

For more information, visit: www.gartner.com

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