Employees remain the most cited source of data compromise
Jonathan Tate, UK and EMEA technology consulting leader, PwC says that fintech and healthcare are attracting large investors.
Tell us about trends in medical technology investment.
The consumerisation of care is a key trend in the UK health market currently. With new digital health technologies, from wearable monitors and fitness apps, to tele-health and remote patient monitoring, patients are now able to better manage their health and wellness, and can be empowered to make informed decisions about treatments. Economic pressures, demographic changes and increases in chronic diseases like diabetes are driving a significant UK movement around improved disease prevention and health monitoring.
PwC analysis found that the UK spent an estimated £180bn in 2015 on healthcare, fitness and wellness, and expenditure is set to reach almost £209bn by 2020. Many of the new entrants to the market are not start-ups but large, established tech players, with the skills, brand names and budgets to develop and scale digital health apps quickly, despite not having an established presence in the sector.
What trends do you see in cybersecurity?
In 2015, we conducted a survey of 10,000 company heads from 127 countries and their feedback said security incidents had increased by thirty-eight percent compared to the previous year. We believe attackers are becoming ever more skilled in breaching company networks, and remaining there undetected for longer periods of time, extracting more data and capitalising on the benefits.
The number of breaches with an insider aspect also continues to rise, with employees remaining the most cited source of compromise. Meanwhile, organisations are facing a cybersecurity skills shortage, lacking the resource to combat threats. Many are looking to external collaborations within the industry to improve their threat intelligence and reduce cyber risks.
We are also seeing increased involvement of top executives in aspects of information security, with forty-five percent of boards last year participating in their company’s security strategy, serving to grow cyber awareness and increase the importance placed on security throughout the business.
Is the US still the leader in funding new tech ventures?
The US naturally has a much larger venture capital market traditionally investing larger amounts than the UK and Europe. However, a recent study showed a seventy percent increase in funding from VCs in the UK tech sector compared to 2014, amounting to around £2.2bn. Fintech and health tech are the biggest beneficiaries.
What are the big tech investments?
Much of the excitement in the market is around digital transformation, with everyone looking to take advantage of new tools to improve their business. In fact, more is now spent on technologies outside of the IT department, with gravitation to cloud platforms and investment in mobile apps, social media, and updates to core business platforms. With everything from enterprise resource planning (ERP) to banking and customer relationship systems nearing end of life or end of support, many organisations are looking to make their next upgrade. All of this means that more routine work to “keep the lights on” is becoming de-prioritised, leaving organisations, in our view, exposed to operational risk.
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