Thanks to the growing awareness of cybercrime threat and greater focus from regulators worldwide to address the issue, 49% of private equity and real estate companies are now satisfied with their internal cybersecurity strategy, but 51% remain neutral or dissatisfied, according to the latest technology industry survey by Augentius.
Based on a survey of private equity and real estate firms across the globe, 55% of respondents see technology investment as a high priority, with data management/cloud and cybersecurity cited as their main priorities, followed by investor communications and accounting/administration.
The independent private equity and real estate administrator also found that replacing aging legacy information technology systems was cited by respondents as the primary barrier to technology innovation and cybersecurity.
Survey respondents also cited an internal lack of technology leadership, talent and skill as a key obstacle to innovation, as well as the fact that their companies consider finding deal opportunities a higher priority in the current environment.
Looking ahead, survey respondents view data management and cloud as the technology with the greatest potential to revolutionize how private equity and real estate managers operate. However, many of them also see artificial intelligence and machine learning as a key area for future investment.
"The past decade has seen the sector make profitable use of the vast array of information now available to it via ever-more sophisticated analytics. The application of AI is a logical next move ... this could easily emerge as a dominant theme in the near future," Augentius noted in the report.
