Enterprises are prioritizing digital transformation, an approach to business models that puts the customer experience in the center, with agile and flexible technology to support it. As IT partners with line-of-business managers push to improve speed to market, security concerns are often forgotten or remain low on the priority list.

This is beginning to change as enterprises that began digital transformation two years ago are seeing costly security lapses. While it may not be possible to tie those lapses directly to digital projects, these concerns are bringing security back into critical discussion about how best to integrate new technology and protect assets.

Executives are beginning to see the importance of including the chief information security officer (CISO) in early discussions of migration plans. CISOs remain challenged in grasping the scope of digital security impact and gaining visibility into potential vulnerabilities.

Struggling to Keep Pace

A survey by Altimeter demonstrates that security is a central consideration for digital transformation. It is also IT professionals’ second most critical priority at 35%, just behind cloud investments at 37%. Executives are finding that transformative solutions are a waste of resources if they expose the business to cyber security threats.

The challenge is that the complexity and pace of development outstrips the pace of security operations. Just as in development, flexibility and agility are priorities for staying out in front when it comes to security. Some enterprises are battling this issue by placing cyber security at the center of their digital transformation strategy.

One approach is to create a culture where security is a shared responsibility, with a dual approach where cyber professionals are embedded in different teams throughout the company. These employees report both to the digital leader and to the CISO.

Transformation Is for Security, Too

As security teams struggle to keep pace with digital transition processes, many IT teams find that a transformation is necessary. Workers must be willing to learn new skills to work alongside business associates. This can happen through reorganization, or the enterprise can assign testing to the software engineers creating the product. The same can apply to other types of development.

The ultimate goal is for security teams to become more of a part of the business, making them more approachable and improving relationships between once-disparate teams. The CISO role requires a new level of collaboration and advising that is an opportunity to transition from being the “department of ‘no.’”

Native Security

With these new approaches, CISOs are getting what they’ve been seeking for years: baked-in security. CISOs know that security works best when it is inserted at the start of the process with design teams. Now that teams are becoming more dynamic and flexible, this is becoming easier to achieve.

Is your enterprise struggling to balance security priorities with the pace of digital transformation? Contact us at eXemplify, where we can help you reorganize teams and leverage the right solutions to ensure cyber security and digital transformation match pace throughout your transition.