A brand new survey of safety leaders has revealed a stark distinction between AI expectations and realities – whereas enthusiasm for AI’s potential runs excessive, groups are grappling with vital challenges in implementation demonstrating ROI, and realizing tangible enterprise influence.
Sponsored by Tines and AWS, IDC’s Voice of Safety 2025 white paper options survey knowledge from over 900 safety leaders within the US, Europe, and Australia.
At first look, the information exhibits that safety leaders’ sentiment towards AI is basically optimistic:
- 99% of groups are embracing AI
- 78% of leaders are assured that adjustments to their roles might be manageable
However this enthusiasm coexists with many considerations about AI, together with frustration on the tempo of adoption. And a deeper evaluation of the information means that these adoption challenges could also be stopping groups from exploring extra impactful functions. Whereas AI adoption is widespread, realizing its full potential stays elusive for most of the leaders surveyed.
Present state: Excessive hopes meet harsh realities
IDC’s white paper discovered that the majority safety leaders view AI as a drive multiplier, anticipating future advantages like elevated enterprise effectivity (54%), improved buyer expertise (51%), and higher aggressive benefit (46%).
However within the current, these groups are grappling with vital limitations to adoption:
- 33% are fearful about coaching capability
- 27% have compliance-related considerations
- 26% have considerations about AI hallucinations
- 25% are centered on safe AI adoption
- 20% are annoyed by gradual implementation
As we look at IDC’s knowledge additional, two potential options emerge to assist groups higher notice AI’s potential.
Resolution #1: Transfer to make use of circumstances that help important decision-making
IDC’s analysis reveals that the most well-liked AI use circumstances for safety groups primarily contain knowledge manipulation:
- • 36% use AI for summarization
- • 35% use AI for menace intelligence evaluation
- • 34% use AI for menace detection
Whereas knowledge summarization is a superb start line for AI adoption, it ought to be seen as a stepping stone reasonably than an finish purpose.
Much less widespread in IDC’s analysis, however indicative of extra mature AI packages are the next use circumstances:
- • 32% use AI for danger assessments
- • 25% use AI for assault floor administration
- • 22% use AI for superior triage
This give attention to knowledge manipulation implies that most of the safety groups featured within the examine are nonetheless early of their AI journey. To attain true enterprise influence, they’ll must progress from short-term effectivity good points by way of knowledge summarization to functions that essentially rework operations. As an illustration, an AI-powered danger prioritization workflow may supply extra substantial, enduring advantages to a company’s safety posture.
In fact, realizing these superior use circumstances requires leaders to handle the considerations highlighted earlier, which leads us to our second potential resolution.
Resolution #2: Undertake a versatile, holistic method to AI
To pave the best way for these superior use circumstances, safety groups want to maneuver past counting on remoted AI options in present instruments and give attention to creating a complete AI technique that addresses their particular challenges.
Based mostly on the challenges highlighted in IDC’s analysis, this method may contain:
- Integration of AI with workflow orchestration – combining AI capabilities with automated workflows to maximise influence and effectivity.
- Ability improvement – investing in coaching to make sure staff members can successfully leverage AI instruments and interpret their outputs.
- An adaptive AI technique – creating a versatile AI roadmap that may evolve with technological developments and altering safety wants.
- Sturdy safety and privateness measures – selecting instruments with robust guardrails to handle considerations about safety, knowledge dealing with, and compliance.
As AI matures, the promise for safety use circumstances will develop exponentially. If safety leaders can successfully handle their considerations with the best tooling and processes, their belief in AI will develop, too.
A versatile and holistic method to AI, just like the one described above, can assist groups navigate adoption complexities, tackle present challenges, and put together for extra refined AI functions as expertise evolves.
A versatile, security-focused AI technique permits leaders to rapidly act on rising alternatives for impactful use circumstances, and in the end facilitate the supply of AI’s promised ROI.
Be taught extra about how safety leaders are approaching AI in 2025 in IDC’s white paper.
