Customer trust and business success reliant on skilled cyber workforce

Customer trust is vital for any business to grow and thrive. It protects a company’s standing - one person’s bad experience can be broadcast around the world in real time, or even just shared amongst family and friends, influencing the reputation of a company. When customers trust a business, exchanges and transactions are more likely to happen, building economic expansion and overall growth. Which is why it’s important that digital trust is embedded and maintained in businesses.

Digital trust can be defined as the confidence in the relationship and between providers and consumers within an associated digital ecosystem.

Our research into the state of digital trust revealed that 92% of European business and IT professionals say digital trust is important to their organisation, so what's standing in the way of businesses achieving it?

The answer is skills. We’re experiencing a digital skills gap that needs to be filled – 50% of all UK businesses have a basic cybersecurity skills gap. If we don’t resolve this, we’ll risk damaging customer trust beyond repair.

Lack of training opportunities

It’s easy to presume that organisations should simply invest heavily in the correct technology in order to best protect themselves and their customers. However, that’s not the full picture. Of those surveyed in our report, nearly half (49%) suggested that a lack of staff skills and training was the biggest barrier to obtaining digital trust. Digital skills training is vital - investing in cyber will only go so far without a skilled workforce that can make the right decisions based on what is best for the individual organisation.

These trained people form the backbone of cybersecurity and what’s worrying is that at the moment, we are falling short.

Recruitment challenges

Historically, it’s been difficult for people to get into cyber. Businesses recruiting into the cyberspace often demand years of relevant experience from prospective talent, and tell hopefuls to obtain time consuming qualifications. These specific expectations mean businesses are limited to a small pool of candidates to choose from, thereby widening the skills gap, limiting the talent out there from accessing these opportunities, and ultimately leading to a lack of diversity. If people can demonstrate a willingness to learn and take on relevant training to help them become a well-rounded cyber professional, they should be given a chance. We need people who want to make a change to make tech more safe and secure.

Schemes like the UK government’s Upskill in Cyber programme are helping to tackle this problem, encouraging anybody to apply to become a trained worker in cyber. As well as this, ISACA’s pledge with the European Commission will provide 20,000 free memberships to students in Europe, enabling them to access ISACA’s extensive network in the region.

Alongside establishing digital trust, having this varied and skilled workforce is another piece of the puzzle that is protecting against cyber threats. To arrive at cyber resilience, this process must be adopted at every point of the supply chain, with stakeholders pulling together and collaborating in order to get the best possible outcomes. Not only must they make sure that they are putting all the correct cybersecurity measures in place, but they must also share their experience with cyber and any learnings with each other so that everyone can benefit.

So, what now?

Fundamentally, the perception of jobs in cybersecurity needs to change, and we are making positive steps in the right direction to achieve that. Providing more accessible routes and better chances for those looking to get into cyber will bolster the cybersecurity services available to businesses, therefore building digital and customer trust.