Four Evolving Trends Every Business Leader Should Be Aware Of

Uploaded on 2024-12-03 in TECHNOLOGY--Resilience, FREE TO VIEW

2024 has been a turbulent time. Indeed, the world has faced a complicated mix of global challenges in the last year, from ongoing conflicts and economic uncertainty to elections impacting 72 countries and 3.7 billion voters.

Within this context, progress has been anything but straightforward for businesses. Rather than a steady march forward, firms have had to strike a delicate balancing act between innovation and risk management amidst significant uncertainty.

For many, digital transformation has been a priority, with the digitisation of operations promising greater agility, operational efficiency and customer insights. Undoubtedly, 2024 will go down as generative AI’s real breakout year, while third party collaborations and service-led partnerships have all continued to gain prominence, setting the foundations for a new era of growth.

However, with each step forward, firms have found themselves facing a series of new and evolving hurdles.

Here, security has been the source of several worries. Third-party and vendor risk management, for example, has become a concern highlighted by nearly 40% of C-level information security professionals, while evolving AI-driven cyber threats such as deepfakes are today requiring increasing vigilance from security teams.

Alongside mounting cyber challenges, heightening regulatory demands are compounding a new wave of risks as organisations struggle to meet a growing web of global and local compliance requirements, working to avoid substantial financial penalties for non-compliance.

In short, 2024 has tested business’s ability to continue to innovate and compete in increasingly crowded marketplaces while simultaneously enhancing their focus on security, compliance and resilience. And that resolve will be further tested in 2025.

Personally, I can already see several trends emerging that will define the focus of businesses for the year ahead. Here, I outline four that I see as being crucial for businesses – and particularly their IT and security teams – to remain vigilant of:

1 – A surge in AI governance: New standards will drive ethical, transparent and accountable AI practices
It’s worth making it clear that the compliance burden is highly unlikely to ease in the coming months and years. Instead, businesses should expect to be confronted with growing demands for AI governance improvement and compliance requirements, with these technologies continuing to come under further scrutiny through the introduction of frameworks like the EU AI Act.

Here, it is vital the firms align themselves with key benchmarks such as ISO 42001 in order to ensure that they are well placed to both avoid non-compliance penalties moving forward, but also better manage AI risks, eliminate bias and uphold public trust. With demands for ethical, robust and secure safeguards in relation to AI practices, shifting in this direction early will likely pay dividends.

2 – Cyber resilience will take centre stage as businesses prioritise continuity: I also see cyber resilience further emerging as a core business strategy – a shift in which companies move away from merely defending against threats and focus more holistically on aspects such as business continuity and swift recovery.

With frameworks like ISO 27001 expanding to address resilience, and regulations like NIS 2 introducing stricter incident reporting, organisations will be required to proactively prepare for and respond to cyber disruptions. This trend will lead to a stronger focus on disaster recovery and operational continuity, with companies investing heavily in systems that allow them to quickly bounce back from cyber incidents, especially in critical infrastructure sectors.

3 – Cyber insurance will tighten further, demanding even higher security standards:
I can say with confidence that the current trend that we’ve seen with cyber insurance in recent times will continue through 2025. By that, I mean that cybersecurity insurance will continue to become increasingly strict, demanding organisations to improve security best practices to qualify for coverage.

Insurers are ramping up their demands for compliance with key standards such as ISO 27001 before potential customers will even be considered for coverage, requiring them to have robust defences in place. For this reason, companies that lack effective incident response plans and risk assessment protocols could face challenges in obtaining or renewing policies, with insurers prioritising those clients that have aligned with their security requirements.

This shift will elevate cybersecurity standards across industries, making compliance a key factor in securing affordable insurance coverage.

4 – Rising cyber threats will spur global action to secure critical infrastructure: It is highly unlikely that the rising tide of threats that we’ve seen against critical infrastructure will subside anytime soon. Instead, I anticipate we will see a greater volume of mounting cyber threats, prompting governments and operators to adopt stronger defences and risk management frameworks.

Again, regulations like NIS2 will push EU operators to implement comprehensive security measures and enforce prompt incident reporting in order to avoid steeper penalties for non-compliance. As a result, I foresee a significant shift to safeguarding essential services, making sectors like energy, healthcare and finance more resilient to attacks.

As part of this, it would be promising to see greater collaboration among nations, with increased intelligence sharing and coordinated responses to counteract sophisticated threats targeting critical infrastructure.

Prioritising Proactive Resilience In 2025

In some ways, it’ll be more of the same from 2024. In others it will be different, and no doubt alternative trends will emerge along the way.

Ultimately, we can’t be completely certain about the precise trajectory of cybersecurity risks – it’s an incredibly unpredictable landscape. However, if one thing is clear, it’s that now is not the time for organisations to become complacent.

Regardless of region, size or industry, companies need to start focusing on enhancing their defences to stay ahead, embracing best practices to build strong foundational security policies, processes and cultures for the long term.

Here, aligning with established standards like ISO 42001 and ISO 27001 is a logical place to begin, enabling businesses to bolster their defences while navigating evolving regulatory expectations. It’s not just about managing risks. Those enterprises that can achieve compliance and certification with key standards will be able to instil significant confidence in their employees, partners and customers, unlocking a host of competitive advantages.

Of course, compliance is never an easy road, and it might feel a daunting journey to embark on. However, with the right support, enterprises can achieve their compliance goals with much greater ease, positioning themselves to manage risks and capitalise on emerging opportunities with robust foundations effectively.

In my view, it’d be wise for companies of all shapes and sizes to put this near the top of their 2025 priority lists.

Luke Dash is CEO of ISMS.online

Image: Ideogram

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