When the COVID-19 pandemic began, demand from consumers seemingly changed in an instant and their behaviors and preferences rapidly accelerated toward e-commerce. As many global supply chains faltered, consumer goods and retail companies raced to enable more digital capabilities and build out their online and direct-to-consumer channels, relying on intelligent automation, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things sensors.
These new ways of serving consumers are vital — yet they also open the door to next-generation cyber threats and attacks.
A robust cybersecurity strategy has never been so important, as highlighted in the EY Global Information Security Survey 2021. We found that 81% of executives worldwide said that COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations to bypass cyber security processes, and 77% have seen more disruptive attacks over the last 12 months (compared with 59% in our 2020 survey). Chief information security officers have cited insufficient budgets, complex regulation and strained relationships with the business as hurdles.
Separately, in the EY Global Board Risk Study 2021, just 9% of boards declared themselves extremely confident that mitigation measures presented to them can protect the organization from major cyber-attacks — down from 20% last year.
“We’re seeing a demand in consumer goods and retail to do things more strategically as opposed to technically,” said Christian Franzen, EY EMEIA Consulting Cyber Security Consumer Products & Retail Leader. “Boards of directors want to see cyber strategies in place before they invest more money, so chief security and technology officers have to be more strategic in their thinking and in placing the topic at the board level.”
During this time of heightened risk and accelerated digital transformation, Henkel eventually turned to us to co-create a 5-year cyber security road map around the digitalization of their corporate and production environment. Henkel challenged us to bring a more creative and innovative approach toward building a strategy — with greater interactivity and more people and stakeholders involved, together as a team.
We already had a powerful differentiator to help deliver that and more: EY wavespace™.