We surveyed 1000+ IT, Security, and Engineering decision makers from the world’s largest companies — those with at least $1 billion in revenue — to find out how they’re capturing technological and business opportunities while protecting against risk, and how they see their organizations evolving for the future.

1. How the World’s Largest Organizations Are
Evolving with Technology
Digital
Enterprise
Report
The Okta 2019

2. INTRODUCTION
Who is Okta?
Okta is the leading independent provider of identity for the enterprise.
We ensure that organizations in every country, sector, and industry can
seamlessly connect their employees, partners, and customers to the
technologies they need using The Okta Identity Cloud, our neutral,
independent platform that securely connects the right people to the
right technologies at the right time.
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3. INTRODUCTION
Today’s corporate landscape is complex, with dynamic workforce
ecosystems, diverse technology stacks, and increased cybersecurity
threats driven by digital innovation.
How are today’s leading companies dealing with
the change and evolving for the future?
Okta commissioned a survey, conducted by Qualtrics, looking at global
enterprises with $1B+ revenue and 10,000+ employees
1,050 IT, security, and engineering decision makers answered the survey
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4. 1. Evolving Workforces
As global companies compete in
increasingly diverse markets, they’re relying
on remote workers and contractors to meet
their changing needs.
Yet decision makers have reservations about
hiring more remote and contract workers.
Nearly 40% of respondents say that a fully
remote workforce poses a security threat.
of respondents expect their
companies to hire more
contract-based employees
in the near future
45%
63%
63%
expect to see an increase in
remote workers (including
contractors) as well
cite security concerns
41% cite efficiency concerns
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5. SECTION1:EVOLVINGWORKFORCES
Are IT Leaders Realists or Idealists When it Comes to Security?
Decision makers are acutely aware of the cybersecurity risks their companies face. However,
many of them overestimate their ability to respond to incidents.
According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2018 Cost of a Data Breach Study:
The mean time to identify a breach is 197 days
The mean time to contain a breach is 69 days
Yet 75% of respondents believe they would identify a breach immediately or within 24 hours
Confidence in Breach Containment
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6. SECTION1:EVOLVINGWORKFORCES
Zero Trust is trending, but Strong Multi-factor Authentication is lagging
There’s no longer a “trusted” network of internal employees. The identities of every individual and
device must be constantly verified through a Zero Trust approach to security.
Low Assurance MFA
Security Questions
SMS, Voice, Email One-Time Password
of respondents are
already working on
Zero Trust strategies
60%
of mid-level leaders say
they are working towards
Zero Trust compared to
of executives, indicating that
IT managers and directors are
spearheading these initiatives
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds another security layer for a distributed network, but 61% of
respondents favored weak factors such as security questions and one-time passwords.
64% 57%
Stronger MFA
Software One-Time Password
Physical and U2F Tokens
Biometric-Based
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7. SECTION1:EVOLVINGWORKFORCES
A Growing Global App-etite
But while many companies are increasing their cloud app count,
they’re not running all their apps in the cloud
75% of survey respondents are running
apps in the cloud, yet adoption
volumes range dramatically: some
are limited to 1–10 apps, while
others are well over 100
67% of respondents say their companies’
total number of cloud apps will
increase in the coming year
85% of technology decision makers
expect at least a third of their
apps to be on-premises
70% say that their companies are less
than half way to meeting their
end state targets
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8. More than half of survey respondents are now deploying multiple clouds — and 60% have
done so within the last two years
2. Cloud Technology and Operations
Companies are evolving quickly and relying on cloud infrastructure to do it. Hybrid and
multi-cloud solutions are on the rise, as is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
of survey respondents say they will increase
IaaS in the coming year, in order to60%
Improve customer experiences Drive collaboration Rapidly bring new products to market
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9. Half of the companies surveyed are in the process of digital transformation:
3. Digital Transformation
But why are they doing it? Ultimately, it comes down to great expectations across:
Improve customer experiences Competitive advantage Growth into new markets
have a formal
digitalization strategy
in place that they are
actively working on
24% are building out
a formal plan
are currently
considering it, but
have no formalized
plans yet
26% 32%
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10. SECTION3:DIGITALTRANSFORMATION
Agile App Development is a Driving Force in Digital Transformation
To make sure developers have what they need to do their jobs, companies are investing in:
Collectively, 85% of digitally-transforming global giants are investing in at least
one of these technologies.
Companies that are in the midst of digital transformation and agile development
are also more likely to have invested in IaaS — 67%, in contrast to the collective
60% average.
60%
Containerization
66%
Microservices
62%
Functions-as-a-Service
65%
Continuous Delivery
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11. invest in Internet of Things
72%
SECTION3:DIGITALTRANSFORMATION
Placing Bets on the Next Big Thing
The world’s top digitally transforming organizations are predicting — and investing in — the biggest
technological breakthroughs:
invest in artificial intelligence
68%
invest in blockchain invest in augmented reality
of respondents with a digital
transformation agenda were
working in Zero Trust
72% of respondents without a digital
transformation agenda were
working in Zero Trust
47%
Companies that are working to digitally transform are more likely to be on top of Zero Trust:
61% 58%
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12. SECTION3:DIGITALTRANSFORMATION
of respondents currently give
customers limited control over
what they share, compared
to 31% who provide their
customers with total control
48%
Better Privacy Protections Across the Board
Businesses everywhere are rethinking their approach to privacy—and that includes the world’s
largest organizations. They’re not just thinking about customers, either.
of respondents say they foresee
giving customers more granular
controls in the coming year
49%
expect their global companies
will give increased control to
their employees
43% expect to grant less control
15%
However
Whereas
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13. SECTION3:DIGITALTRANSFORMATION
Investing in the Future by Being Forward-looking
Nearly every respondent showcased their organization adopting technology to achieve its goals,
but what makes a company truly forward-looking?
Here are some key dimensions that highlight who’s leading the leaders:
of respondents were
making progress on at least
two of the key dimensions
previously discussed
of all companies
surveyed are making
progress on at least
four key dimensions
However86% 41%
Pursuing Zero Trust strategy
Pursuing digital transformation
Using any of the four agile development technologies
Using any of the strong MFA types
Increasing IaaS usage
Have at least 30% of apps in the cloud
Prioritizing customer experience
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14. CONCLUSION
Modern enterprises are embracing digital transformation, improving
their technology and operations, and evolving their workforces. We
encourage you to check out the full Digital Enterprise Report. You can
see the survey responses and data in detail, and read our analysis to get
a complete sense of how today’s global companies are rapidly evolving.
Have questions about Okta and how we can help with your
organization’s digital transformation?
Contact our team.
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