Employee health & benefits Health & benefits

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a cybersecurity knowledge gap

In today’s digital world, cyber-threats are ever present. Protecting against them is a priority for SMEs, but many worry they lack the sufficient knowledge and understanding of cybersecurity risks and best practices. So much so that it’s the people risk SMEs are most concerned about severely impacting their business over the next three to five years.⁽¹⁾

The impacts SMEs worry about the most are the increased risk of cyber-attacks, ransomware and being unable to operate their business. For example, 34% of SMEs say they are concerned about a lack of skilled cyber expertise increasing the risk of cyber-attacks. For smaller businesses, the costs of handling and recovering from these kinds of threats could be crippling.

Closing the cyber knowledge gap to reduce the risks is vital. It’s also a major challenge for SMEs, given that cyber skills and talent are in high demand. Despite the global cybersecurity workforce growing 8.7% to 5.5 million people between 2022 and 2023, four million additional professionals are still needed to adequately safeguard digital assets.⁽²⁾

Unfortunately, the threats won’t wait. As cyber-attacks continue to get more sophisticated and harder to detect, more organisations will feel the effects.

In the face of such challenges, what can SMEs do? We believe that applying a cyber lens to the employee offer and experience can help attract cyber skills and talent and start to build a cybersecure culture. With limited budgets for cash incentives and pay, SMEs need to look at the reasons why these highly valued employees join or stay with a particular employer – from a company’s purpose, values and culture to a broader suite of rewards, career path opportunities and benefits.

Did you know that we can help SMEs attract and keep the best people?

Size shouldn’t limit your ability to offer stand-out benefits. We help you rival even larger employers by offering more comprehensive benefits than typically available to smaller companies.