98 percent of respondents say digital trust is important and 82 percent say its importance will increase in five years; but a lack of training (52 percent) and leadership buy-in (42 percent) jeopardize the value it can deliver.

Boston, MA, USA— Digital trust can make or break an organization. With increased data breaches, errors, ransomware and hacks, digital trust can be the difference between retaining reputations and customer loyalty after a major incident or suffering serious, time-consuming and expensive losses. Business leaders can see how their organization measure with ISACA’s State of Digital Trust 2023 report, which reveals insights from 8,100 global digital trust professionals on digital trust benefits, obstacles, priorities, responsibilities and budgets.

Benefits of Digital Trust

According to ISACA’s State of Digital Trust 2023 report, 76 percent say digital trust is important to digital transformation, but they also report worrisome gaps in several strategic areas including leadership support and staff skills/training.

Organizations with high levels of digital trust can gain tangible benefits and positive business results. Top benefits reported in the 2023 survey are:

1. Positive reputation (67 percent)
2. More reliable data for decision-making (57 percent)
3. Fewer privacy breaches (56 percent)
4. Fewer cybersecurity incidents (56 percent)
5. Stronger customer loyalty (55 percent)
6. Faster innovation due to confidence in their technology and systems (42 percent)
7. Higher revenue (27 percent)

Even with these stated benefits and with 81 percent agreeing that demonstrating a commitment to digital trust will ultimately make organizations more successful, only 13 percent have a dedicated digital trust staff role and only 19 percent say their board of directors has made digital trust a priority.

Sixty seven percent of respondents say measuring the maturity of digital trust practices is extremely or very important, yet 29 percent do not measure digital trust at all. Still, this is an improvement from the 2022 report, which found that 33 percent did not measure digital trust.

Measurement is a significant differentiator and leadership is driving this, as 38 percent of those that measure digital trust have a dedicated staff role and 46 percent of those with a board that prioritizes digital trust have a staff role. Approximately half (53 percent) are confident in the digital trustworthiness of their organization, but this jumps to 81 percent among those that measure digital trust maturity.

Holistic Approach Can Help Reduce Obstacles and Reap Benefits

Security, risk, data integrity, privacy, governance, quality and assurance are listed among the many key components of digital trust, but the survey shows that a unified effort among these siloed areas is lacking. Only half (51 percent) say there is sufficient collaboration among these fields.

Just under one quarter (24 percent) are planning to increase budgets for digital trust activities, indicating that digital trust can be implemented as an umbrella approach that encourages existing individual areas to work as a cohesive whole in the most cost-effective way.

“As organizations move to a digital-first business model, trust is the essential component that must be earned before, during and after every interaction,” said Tracey Dedrick, Interim CEO of ISACA. “Digital trust is a holistic, organized approach and offers a new and integrated way for organizations to look at what they are already doing. Digital trust is an umbrella that ensures existing functions are operating in sync and in the most optimal manner to ensure others have trust in the organization. A digital trust framework that is aligned with enterprise goals is essential and can contribute to impactful positive outcomes."

While significant additional budget or headcount may not need to be allocated to digital trust, a holistic, organized approach and a digital trust framework that is aligned with enterprise goals is essential and can contribute to impactful positive outcomes.

“It is critical that boards and the C-suite be closely involved in ensuring digital trust is positioned as a top-tier strategic benefit,” said Dedrick.

Barriers Need to be Addressed

The top obstacles to attaining high levels of digital trust are lack of skills/training (52 percent), lack of leadership buy-in (42 percent), lack of alignment of digital trust and enterprise goals (42 percent), lack of budget (41 percent), digital trust not seen as a priority (38 percent) and lack of technological resources (38 percent).

On a positive note, an improvement in “lack of skills and training” over the previous year’s survey indicates a gradual increased understanding of the value of digital trust. In 2023, 32 percent offer digital trust training to staff (29 percent in 2022), 31 percent understand how their job role contributes to digital trust (28 percent in 2022), and 66 percent say digital trust is relevant to their job (63 percent in 2022). This is trending in a good direction, but it should be accelerated.

Responsibility for Digital Trust

The respondents did not name one specific job title or role responsible for driving digital trust for every organization, mainly because each enterprise has its own culture, structure and goals. However, they noted that either the board of directors or senior leadership have ultimate responsibility at their organization. Despite this, only 19 percent say the board of directors has made digital trust a priority. One third (34 percent) say that senior leadership team is responsible. Although in the current landscape, a Chief Digital Trust Officer (or similar) exists at some forward-thinking organizations, the survey found that only 13 percent have a staff position dedicated to digital trust.

“Saying digital trust is a part of everyone’s job is different than saying everybody is responsible for it. This challenge should be entrusted to a leader with the skills to effectively communicate with boards and executives, the knowledge to manage the many moving parts, and the ability to motivate employees to daily excellence,” said Mark Thomas, president of Escoute Consulting and member of ISACA’s Digital Trust Working Group.

Tools for Digital Trust Growth

The pace of digital transformation is increasing as pressures from stakeholders and peers intensify. Digital trust guidance will have a significant impact, as only 20 percent currently use a framework for their digital trust practices while 56 percent believe it is important to have a digital trust framework.

Learn More
The State of Digital Trust 2023 report is available as a free download at www.isaca.org/state-of-digital-trust. To register for a free webinar on the survey results and their implications, visit https://store.isaca.org/s/community-event?id=a334w000005SLDgAAO.

About ISACA

ISACA^® (www.isaca.org) is a global community advancing individuals and organizations in their pursuit of digital trust. For more than 50 years, ISACA has equipped individuals and enterprises with the knowledge, credentials, education, training and community to progress their careers, transform their organizations, and build a more trusted and ethical digital world. ISACA is a global professional association and learning organization that leverages the expertise of its more than 170,000 members who work in digital trust fields such as information security, governance, assurance, risk, privacy and quality. It has a presence in 188 countries, including 225 chapters worldwide. Through its foundation One In Tech, ISACA supports IT education and career pathways for underresourced and underrepresented populations.

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Contact:

Bridget Drufke, bdrufke@isaca.org, +1.847.660.5554
Emily Ayala, communications@isaca.org, +1.847.385.7223