Implications of Industry 4.0 for security in contemporary organizations : perspective of information strategies

Abstract

PURPOSE: The development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) contributes to many organizational and functional changes in modern organizations. The aim of this article is to indicate whether and how Industry 4.0 instruments can affect changes in the operation of the organization and its security.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The study has been conducted using the CAWI method on a random sample of 225 Polish organizations (involved in production, trade or services). Respondents were owners, board members, general managers, or IT managers. The study was conducted between July and September 2020 throughout 16 voivodships in Poland. The study is dominated by an inductive approach.

FINDINGS: In the conducted research among Polish organizations, the significant importance of the Industry 4.0 environment was confirmed. ICTs can significantly strengthen the potential of a modern organization by selecting and using an appropriate information strategy with particular attention to the level of information security.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The article contains an assessment of how Polish organizations shape their security through resilience conditioned by the use of IT platforms and tools. In addition, recommendations are included, which affects the usefulness of information strategies in the context of organization security.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The issues raised in the article are not exhaustively treated in international literature and require successive exploration. The research indicates the way and scope of using ICTs and their impact on the security of organizations in the context of information strategies. Security is not regarded in the study as a derivative of protection against cyber threats (which dominates in the contemporary literature), but as a result of constructive use of ICTs to ensure information, decision-making and business continuity of the organization, especially by creating its resilience.