During 2021, the rise of remote work contributed to more cyber attacks on previously unknown vulnerabilities than during the past five years combined. Meanwhile, a mass migration of data to the cloud has prompted a record $58B in venture investments in data companies this year; enterprises are grappling with new compliance and data privacy rules; and so-called “low-code/no-code” development platforms are empowering non-IT employees to be “citizen data scientists.”
Citi Ventures recently held our Fall Enterprise Tech Series, which explored these and other top-of-mind issues in cybersecurity, data management, and automation. Led by Matt Carbonara, Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Investing at Citi Ventures, the event brought together leaders from both within Citi and across the industry landscape for three days of thought-provoking conversations on these critical topics.
Highlights from the virtual event are below.
As technology becomes an ever-more key driver for the banking industry, cybersecurity architecture has become a crucial factor in decisions enterprises make about potential partnerships, investments, and vendors.
Day One of the Enterprise Tech Series focused on three key dimensions of cybersecurity: cyber resilience; the “new normal” of hybrid and remote work; and DevSecOps, or the integration of security testing and protection throughout the software development and deployment lifecycle (SDLC).
“There's a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape that we're all dealing with. We've seen [a] level of
sophistication demonstrated by major cyber-criminal groups that now rivals nation-state actors.”
- Ann Barron-DiCamillo, Global Head of Cyber Security Operations, Citi
“When COVID-19 hit, we securely turned on remote access for thousands of additional
Citi employees—many now working fully remotely for the first time. Despite our existing
remote access and data protection controls, the attack surface changed, giving cyber criminals
an opportunity to go after us in a way we hadn’t experienced before.”
- Al Tarasiuk, Chief Information Security Officer, Citi
“Securing applications and infrastructure early in software development benefits both security
[and] speed of delivery [to] your customers and partners.”
– Matt Carbonara
“This is truly a once-in-a-generation shift in how data will be managed.”
- Vibhor Rastogi, Global Director of AI/ML/Data Investing, Citi Ventures
The big news of Day Two of the Fall Enterprise Tech Series was not that, per Citi research, annual enterprise data volumes are expected to grow at 24% CAGR over the next five years. The real headline: Nearly two-thirds of those workloads may be running in the cloud by 2023.
Day Three of Citi’s Fall Enterprise Technology Series focused on two key frontiers of digital transformation: low-code/no-code platforms, which enable non-IT employees to build software applications and functionality on demand; and automation in financial services, which is eliminating bottlenecks in large enterprises and creating faster and better business intelligence.
“Traditionally companies hired developers or used off-the-shelf software,
but with low-code/no-code [solutions], they have a third option: to build
custom systems without hiring developers or compromising on software.”
- Blaze O’Byrne, Vice President, Venture Investing, Citi Ventures
“Automation in technology has become even more important for enterprises to improve productivity,
reduce errors, and enable employees to work on higher-order tasks.”
- Matt Carbonara
Citi Ventures is grateful to our participants and attendees for making the 2021 Fall Enterprise Technology Series a success. Visit our Tech Council page for more information, and stay tuned for more enterprise tech content and events in 2022.