Reductions and reallocations in defense spending, globalization, and mergers, acquisitions and divestitures top the list of macro forces expected to affect the government sector over the next two or three years, according to a new survey of companies in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry.
It is the third consecutive year that cuts and changes in defense spending are ranged as the top macro force affecting the A&D industry, said the survey, 2015 A&D Market Survey, conducted jointly by Computer Sciences Corp. [CSC] and the Aerospace Industries Association. Globalization, followed by mergers, acquisitions and divestitures reshaping the industry, rounded the top three defense industry macro forces affecting respondent organizations.
Next in the list is pricing pressures in the defense market followed by a growing shortage of skilled talent.
“In the last survey, the ‘Qualified Workforce’ trend ranked fourth,” just behind ‘Mergers and Acquisitions,’” said the survey. “Continued difficulty in finding qualified employees in the domestic workforce, especially the aerospace and mechanical engineering and skilled trades, is a persistent issue. The demand for highly skilled workers is expected to increase dramatically.”
The survey also said that cyber attacks against commercial and non-commercial information technology (IT) systems means cyber security is important for the industry.
“The risks to a company’s intellectual property and even to national security are rising and in many case are unpredictable,” it said. The top three cyber security priorities for companies are protecting their intellectual property, reducing overall cyber vulnerability, and protecting the organization’s reputation and brand, the survey said.
The survey also said that almost 47 percent or respondents reported that cyber security threats had increased somewhat or significantly and just over 11 percent said the threat had declined in the past year.
The survey quoted one respondent as saying “’Cybersecurity standards are too lax. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is vulnerability on its own, and an effective platform to spread malware onto company systems.’”
Nearly 68 percent of respondents said they have increased spending on cyber security, with 29 percent of those saying they increased their spending by 25 percent or more in the past year, the survey said. Key spending priorities are risk assessments, training and awareness, data protection, incident response, and continuous event monitoring, it said.