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In a survey conducted in September, 42% of chief technology officers (CTOs) identified cloud security as their top priority in terms of incremental spending, with network security as the second most common response and analytics in third place. In a separate poll conducted by Credit Suisse, CTOs predicted that security would be the top area of IT budget growth in 2021 and 2022, with an expected increase of 11%. Looking ahead to 2026, security again ranked highest in terms of budget growth, with a predicted increase of 14%.

There are several factors driving this trend, including the ongoing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new threats such as deepfake videos and ransomware as a service. To strengthen their organization’s defenses in 2023, chief information security officers (CISOs) may consider consolidating their security software vendors and integrating their security software with a unified console to reduce the number of vulnerabilities and improve automation. They may also invest in training their staff to be more aware of potential attacks and how to prevent them.

3. Worker mobility will increase further

In the past few years, the way in which knowledge workers operate has changed significantly, and this trend is expected to continue in 2023. One factor contributing to this shift is the mass adoption of 5G capable devices. According to Juniper Research, there will be an additional 600 million 5G connections in 2023 alone. This technological trend is being compounded by demographic factors, such as the desire of workers to be “productivity paranoia“, regardless of their location. For chief information security officers (CISOs), this means that they will need to be prepared to protect their workers from new types of threats that may arise as a result of these changes, including new working styles, networks, and devices. In 2023, it will be important to be ready to protect workers who are working from anywhere, not just from home.

4. CTOs will need to pay more attention to local factors

In 2023, it is likely to become more challenging to implement a one-size-fits-all global approach to technology initiatives, due to the increasing number of national regulations related to data sovereignty and the need to consider where data is stored and secured. This trend will be particularly relevant for public sector agencies, which often have more country-specific security and compliance requirements than private sector organizations. As a result, chief information security officers (CISOs) will need to ensure that their endpoint management solutions and overall technology architecture are flexible enough to accommodate these local requirements. This may involve adapting their solutions to meet specific regulatory or compliance standards in different countries.

5. Truly transformative technology will rise to the top

One of the predictions for 2023 is that it will become clearer which technologies are truly transformative and which have been overhyped. One technology that is expected to perform well for enterprises in 2023 is advanced forms of automation, such as artificial intelligence (AI). Since 2020, AI start-ups have received more than $100 billion in venture capital investment for a range of applications, including the development of new drugs and creative works. Security is one area where advanced automation and AI can be particularly useful, as they can help to address the complex and constantly evolving challenges faced by chief information security officers (CISOs).

While AI-generated images may garner headlines, other enterprise software solutions are also likely to benefit from both sophisticated AI and greater automation in 2023. For example, Gartner predicts that by 2027, unified endpoint management (UEM) and digital employee experience tools will converge to enable autonomous endpoint management and reduce human effort by at least 40%. The more security tasks can be automated, the more time will be freed up for strategic work by key staff.