As employees become more mobile, companies are increasing relying on new security access controls to product vital data. This according to market research company Edge Research.
Edge Research announced results of a customer survey exploring technology issues and IT spending trends among attendees
of Citrix’s annual business and technology forum, happening this week in Orlando, Fla.
Major survey findings showed a strong need for greater end point security and control for access to applications and data by remote and mobile users. Specifically, 80 per cent of respondents indicated that the following capabilities would be extremely valuable to them when providing remote and mobile access to applications:
- The ability to analyze the client’s level of security (such as the existence of anti-virus software and current patches to browsers);
- The ability to alter functionality available to the user depending on the client access scenario (trusted versus untrusted devices) and policies; concerning the user (for example, turning off local printing capability or eliminating the saving of documents on the desktop); and
- The ability to track and map user scenarios (such as applications and files accessed, functions performed, etc.).
Currently, two-thirds of customers surveyed lack the ability to analyze a client device for its level of security, or to change the functionality available to the user based on client security.
“”Although organizations want and need to give mobile workers greater access to information, they are constrained by fears about the security of untrusted devices outside the firewall. Our findings clearly show an urgent need for a solution that not only provides an accurate picture of each client device’s security, but also allows administrators to alter access and functionality based on that information, and rules specific to users,”” said Jon Kulok, managing director of Edge Research.
Concerns about client security were also evident from the responses to survey questions about regulatory compliance and increasing demand for application access.
Ninety per cent of respondents agreed that regulatory compliance is driving the need for greater endpoint security and more discriminating access technologies, while 87 per cent indicated that their business clients were requiring more remote access to applications and information.
Strategic Business Initiatives
More than 97 per cent of respondents agreed that one of their company’s core strategic business initiatives is to establish an infrastructure that provides simple ways to ensure a consistent user experience and instant, secure access to IT services with stable and reduced costs.
Web-based Application Deployment
The customer survey results showed that 86 per cent of respondents are deploying or plan to deploy Web-based versions of custom or packaged applications within their organizations.
IT Spending Trends
Nearly 50 per cent of customers surveyed – verses the 43 per cent from last year’s survey – said they expect their organization’s IT budget to increase in 2005.
Single Sign-on
More than half of respondents said they plan to implement single sign-on software within one year.