The fourth 2023 SME study on home office and cybersecurity shows that the proportion of jobs suitable for home office has decreased to 56%, but that the home office share will now remain the same in the long term.
- It seems as if home office use to the current extent has become established in most SMEs.
- Cybersecurity remains an unsolved problem, especially for SMEs that are less technology-savvy: digital pioneers have implemented more measures than early followers and these more than late followers.
- There is still too little investment in employee training and safety audits.
502 managers of SMEs with 4 to 49 employees were surveyed.
The home office
Since 2020, the number of positions suitable for working from home has decreased every year. The number of SMEs in which some or all employees can work from home has fallen from 67% (in 2020) to 56% (in 2023).
In those companies where home offices are available, around two fifths (42%) of employees work partly or mainly at home. As in the previous studies, Geneva and Zurich stand out as being particularly home office-friendly.
In 2023, after all pandemic measures have ended, almost three quarters of those surveyed (73%) expect that the proportion of people working from home will remain the same in the long term. It seems as if home office use to the current extent has become established in most SMEs.
On cybersecurity
One in ten SMEs (11%) has already been successfully attacked by cybercriminals, in such a way that significant effort was required to repair the damage. Over half (55%) of those surveyed who had already been attacked reported financial damage. Around an eighth (13%) said they had suffered loss of customer data or damage to their reputation.
According to those surveyed, cybercrime is a serious problem (mean score of 4.7 on the 5-point scale). They also recognize the measures against cyber attacks as important (4.5). The more open SMEs are to technologies, the higher both the risks and the need for measures are rated.
The levels of implementation of the various measures surveyed at 3.9 and 4.5 (on the scale of 5) are all at a practically unchanged high level compared to the last two years. Digital pioneers have implemented more measures than early followers and these more than late followers.
As has been noted in previous years, organizational measures are still implemented significantly less than technical ones. The two least frequently implemented organizational measures are regular employee training (2.9 on the scale of 5) and carrying out a security audit (2.8).
Around half (52%) of those surveyed believe it is somewhat or very likely that they will increase their security measures against cybercrime in the next one to three years. Those who are better informed about cybersecurity plan more measures against cybercrime (3.6 on the scale of 5) than those who are less informed (3.0).
The telephone survey was conducted from April 18 to June 13, 2023 with managers of small companies (4 to 49 employees) in German-, French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland.
This fourth study on home office and cybersecurity was published by the research partners Die Mobiliar, digitalswitzerland, School of Economics FHNW, Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences SATW, Alliance Digital Security Switzerland ADSS and gfs-zürich.
Download Study “Home office and cybersecurity in Swiss SMEs”:
https://kmu-transformation.ch/cyberstudie-2023/
Source: University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, Sep 19, 2023
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)