A recent Gartner survey highlights a major challenge in data security management, revealing that only 14% of Security & Risk Management (SRM) leaders can effectively secure organizational data assets while also enabling their use for business objectives. While 35% of surveyed leaders focus on securing data and 21% prioritize leveraging data for business growth, only one in seven can successfully achieve both.

The survey, conducted between June and August 2024, gathered insights from 318 senior security leaders across industries worldwide. Nathan Parks, Sr. Specialist, Research at Gartner, emphasized that the inability to balance data security with business needs exposes organizations to cyber threats, regulatory penalties, and operational inefficiencies, ultimately putting their competitive edge and stakeholder trust at risk.

To help SRM leaders bridge this gap, Gartner recommends five key actions: reducing governance-related friction by co-creating security policies with end users, aligning governance efforts by collaborating with internal teams, setting non-negotiable security requirements for handling unknown risks, defining clear guardrails for GenAI-related decisions, and working with data and analytics teams to ensure top-down buy-in on security initiatives.

As businesses increasingly rely on data for decision-making and innovation, achieving the right balance between security and business enablement is essential to drive growth while mitigating risks. Organizations that fail to do so may face heightened security vulnerabilities, compliance challenges, and disruptions that hinder long-term success.

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