TABLE 4. How often do your company’s senior executives review security vulnerability reports? Weekly Monthly Quarterly Annually Less than once per year PPAI 100 Suppliers 40% 42% 11% 5% 3% Suppliers $250M+ 22% 67% 11% 0% 0% Suppliers $50M-$250M 47% 35% 12% 0% 6% Suppliers $5M-$50M 19% 50% 13% 13% 6% Suppliers Under $5M 75% 25% 0% 0% 0% Shawn Reed Shawn Reed, director of IT at Minnesotabased Showdown Displays – promo’s 14th leading supplier in the PPAI 100 – believes the results are on point. “Larger suppliers typically have an IT group in place that they lean on for cybersecurity, which makes it less of a concern for senior executives – this is my case,” says Reed, a member of PPAI’s 2023 Technology Committee. “Whereas the smaller suppliers – if they don’t have an IT group – pay managed services to control the security and are sent the results usually on a monthly basis.” Ortega adds that it’s reassuring to see most senior executives reviewing vulnerability reports within a monthly timeframe. “Given this attentiveness, I’d be intrigued to find out the portion of their budget allocated to cybersecurity measures,” he says. “Such data suggests a strong recognition of cybersecurity’s importance. This could be a prime moment for industry leaders to spearhead standardization efforts in how distributors and suppliers link their systems.” TABLE 5. When was your current ERP system originally installed? Past Year Last 5 Years Last 10 Years Last 15 Years More Than 15 Years PPAI 100 Suppliers 8% 37% 13% 13% 18% Suppliers $250M+ 0% 33% 11% 11% 33% Suppliers $50M-$250M 6% 18% 24% 18% 24% Suppliers $5M-$50M 0% 69% 13% 6% 6% Ortega expects the percentages indicating newer installations of enterprise resource planning systems to increase in the coming years across all supplier categories, especially those who updated their systems more than 10 years ago, because “the declining cost of storage and computing power makes it more feasible for companies to adopt newer, more powerful cloud-based ERP systems.” However, he adds, it’s important to note that with the rapid integration of technologies like AI and machine learning, the ERP systems of today may undergo substantial transformations. “The ERP we know now could look markedly different in the next five years,” Ortega says, “incorporating smarter, more automated features and maybe even evolving beyond the traditional scope of ERP as we understand it.” The State of Innovation 2023 | Must Read PPAI • OCTOBER 2023 • 51
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