Securing the Future: Why IT and Security Can't Afford to Operate in Siloes

In the past, IT and security teams operated in siloes, only collaborating or exchanging information when it was absolutely necessary. However, the rise of the cloud and remote work caused those traditional siloes to blur. Organisations had to ensure that employees had both the technology and IT support to work where and how they wanted, and that they were also secure in doing so. Now, thanks to ‘endpoint sprawl’ (the rapid adoption of diverse devices and operating systems across environments), BYOD, and a widening threat landscape, organisations find themselves contending with a new variety of heightened risks.  

Up against a rapidly evolving world, divided IT and security teams aren’t just ineffective, they’re unsustainable. It’s no longer just a nice-to-have for IT and security teams to work together to boost productivity while reducing risk; it’s vitally important for organisations and businesses to succeed in our hyperconnected digital world. For organisations still struggling to streamline better IT/security collaboration or hoping to get a better understanding of what it looks like in practice, here are a few important themes to consider.  

Shared talent will lead to better IT-security alignment 

As economic uncertainties continue and the IT skills gap widens, stronger IT-security alignment isn’t just better for business; it’s a more effective use of the current talent pool. As Tech UK notes, businesses are increasingly looking for professionals who possess both IT and security skills to fill technical roles. 

Technical incidents which can often arise from poorly managed endpoints (think: a remote employee inadvertently clicking on a phishing email that takes down the whole organisation), underscore this growing overlap. As more cyberattacks originate at the endpoint, we’re seeing more often that the same people responsible for managing those endpoints are the ones being tasked with investigating security breaches and forensics when they occur, making cross-functional expertise critical. Understanding whether an issue came from an unmanaged device, a vulnerable vendor, or a larger security flaw, and then quickly solving for the problem, is essential to diagnose and resolve threats before they can impact business.  

More versatile talent doesn’t just mean a more effective business. It also makes for greater growth opportunities for employees. As the threat landscape evolves, security awareness and education across an organisation will play a growing role in building resilience. 

Consolidating tools  

Bringing IT and security teams closer together isn’t just about focusing on shared skill sets. It’s also about empowering both teams with the tools they need to naturally bridge that gap. With shared visibility through more integrated platforms, both teams can gain real-time insights into infrastructure status, threats, and vulnerabilities. These solutions help IT and security teams rapidly exchange critical information, accelerating their response to incidents and reducing the chance of errors or misunderstandings. 

Centralised and automated tools can further reduce manual effort, allowing both teams to concentrate on big-picture objectives instead of spending hours on routine tasks like patching, scanning, and incident triage. Enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities, and tailored recommendations can lead to even deeper insights, better decision-making, and improved performance across both teams as well. 

By leveraging platforms with an emphasis on unified visibility, automation, and documentation, organisations can foster greater alignment on priorities and shared accountability, leading to more agile and proactive IT and security outcomes, while strengthening organisational resilience, improving efficiency, and boosting employee productivity. 

Improved collaboration, improved resilience 

While we’ve been talking about greater IT and security collaboration for years now – and it’s exciting to see the strides we’ve made in having those two teams collaborate better across the board – there's never been a more apt time for IT and security to work in tandem. The AI-enabled threat landscape is drastically widening organisations’ digital attack surface, and we’re still just seeing the tip of the iceberg.   

As organisations grow, adding new employees, customers, and digital resources to their rolodex, so too does their risk. Where greater IT/security alignment will be even more essential for boosting organisational productivity in this AI-era (as more AI-enabled tools and resources and introduced to the workforce, and as employees continue to operate from anywhere), misalignment will only lead to greater chaos – introducing a plethora of new risks while potentially leading to larger conflicts when it comes to employee productivity, business efficiency, and employee enablement.  

In the technical world, the ground is always moving, and organisations should continue to invest in deep collaboration between IT and security teams to enable secure innovation while scaling business. Ultimately, businesses that focus on shared skillsets, clear communication, aligned leadership, and integrated technology solutions will be the ones best positioned to strengthen their cyber resilience while achieving a competitive edge.