Indian organizations gearing up to strengthen their cyber security infra in 2018: Survey

With data breaches becoming more common than ever, Indian companies are gearing up to strengthen their cybersecurity infrastructure in 2018 in order to protect data of consumers, suppliers and employees, the results of a new survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) shows.

Indian finance executives are likely to increase spending on travel and entertainment and invest on mobile technology, hardware and infrastructure in 2018, showed the "Global Business and Spending Outlook Survey" commissioned by American Express.

Conducted by Institutional Investor Thought Leadership Studio, the survey, which is in its 11th edition, said that 97% of survey respondents from India anticipate an uptick in their companies' headcount in the year. 

"India is leading the way in terms of both business confidence and investments," said Saru Kaushal, Vice President and General Manager, Global Commercial Services, American Express Banking Corp., India.

"Businesses are reiterating the need for increasing spend on travel and entertainment, optimising cash flow and using it judiciously to grow and protect the business," she added. 

The findings are based on a survey of 870 senior finance executives from companies around the world with annual revenues of USD 500 million or more.

While one third of the Indian CFOs surveyed are likely to spend more on transportation/logistics and 53% on hardware and infrastructure, half of the senior financial executives aim to increase spending on mobile technology, the results showed. 

About 40% of the CFOs surveyed said that they are likely to invest more than last year in improving administrative process efficiency to help meet business objectives.

About 87% of the respondents believe that commercial innovations of the so-called "sharing economy" - those used by ride-sharing services like Uber or lodging services such as AirBnB - will have a substantial impact on their industry in the next five years.

About 60% of the executives agreed that their company's travel policy allows employees to use sharing economy services for lodging or transportation when travelling on business.

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