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According to the findings from a recent Gartner market survey, growth is the #1 business priority for 58 percent of CEOs. This is up from 42 percent in 2016. Gartner “conducted a survey of 388 CEOs and senior business leaders in user organizations worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2016 to examine their business issues and some areas of IT technology agenda impact.”[1]

I shared more details from the Gartner findings in my prior editorial about Digital Transformation with Mainframe Reinvention.

Securing the foundation of your digital growth

According to a March 2017 market research report by Dan Bieler, Principal Analyst at Forrester, digital transformation that doesn’t put trust at the center will fail. Digital transformation offers businesses the chance to move ahead of slower competitors. However, from a customer perspective, digital trust is a moral imperative.

Mr. Bieler wrote in the Forrester report, Trust Must Be The Foundation Of Your B2B Digital Ecosystem: “Trust is one of the most vital elements of any business relationship. But the shift away from linear value chains focused on internal relationships toward more open networks of relationships in the context of digital ecosystems has made trust a critical driver of new revenue opportunities and more efficient operations.”

Today’s digital businesses rely on interaction with many stakeholders that operate outside of the organization’s secure firewall. Moreover, processing and storing online transactions can increase the risk of data breaches, which could undermine the reputation of a trusted brand. That’s why informed CIOs have enhanced their security measures, ensuring data integrity.

Comparing mainframe security with alternatives

Solitaire Interglobal Ltd. (SIL) has been monitoring aspects of business and security for over 21 years. The collection of information via their Global Security Watch (GSW) provides thousands of organizations with trend and risk information on an ongoing basis.

To build an understanding of the reflective metrics associated with security, IBM engaged SIL to conduct surveys, gather data and perform analysis to provide a clear understanding of the benefits and relative costs that can be seen when organizations implement the IBM Z mainframe platform as part of their IT architecture as compared to other platform architectures.

In summary, the analysis included the following key points:

The noticeably lower security staffing level for the IBM Z deployment and use is directly attributable to the integrated nature of the Z operational stack. This is of special note as an organization increases in size or if an organization is on the path to a cloud service delivery model. IBM Z requires 88.35 percent less security staff time than other alternatives.

The expenditures for Z security implementations are lower — by as much as 83.72 percent than for those of other platforms. This stems partially from the combination of the architected security base and a highly scalable platform. The efficiency of this synergy is demonstrated in practice: as the architecture is more heavily loaded, a significant drop in cost for work unit is realized.

Based on initial installations, the foundation IBM Z security solutions provides as much as 13.21 times the interception level of alternative platform solutions. Additionally, the Z solution provides a base, foundational protection that exceeds 92.1 percent, even without the bolt-on supplementation required for alternate architectures.

Watch Ross Mauri, General Manager of IBM Z and LinuxONE, discuss the new IBM Z – the next great advancement for trusted digital experiences.

How pervasive encryption changes everything

SIL researchers note that a recent advance in one of the foundational aspects of our current computing environment is poised to make a significant difference in the market. The change is the expansion of the current IBM Z encryption from a selective model to one that is pervasive. Such a significant modification in the basic structure of computing and its effect on security will cause a major disruptive effect.

In conclusion, per the SIL assessment, the advent of pervasive encryption radically changes not only the safeguard that’s available on the Z offerings but the industry in general. This paradigm shift is a challenge to any other offering that tries to address business today.

Download the insightful 30-page report from SIL, “Pervasive Encryption: a new paradigm for protection,” then reach out to an IBM representative using live chat or a Business Partner to learn more about enabling trusted digital experiences.

[1] Gartner Press Release, Gartner Survey Shows 42 Percent of CEOs Have Begun Digital Business Transformation, April 24, 2017. http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3689017

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