Businesses have been highly fluid in their technology spending throughout the past few years, driven by the need to keep up with the IT evolution so as not to fall behind the competition. Although personal computers are still being used in many companies and legacy systems have not quite yet faded out of the private and public sectors, a change is occurring in rapid fashion with respect to mobility and cloud services.
Agility, speed and spend efficiency are some of the most important characteristics of a successful, digitally enabled enterprise today, and the cloud has allowed companies to achieve these more prolific levels of flexibility in a relatively short period of time. Likewise, trends such as BYOD have helped even small businesses capture the power of mobile devices without putting all that much strain on the budget.
With all of this in mind, though, business leaders must be proactively thinking about what these new environments and technologies will do to their security performance, trying to work ahead of the curve to ensure that data and systems are protected by relevant, timely solutions. It should not be all that surprising that data breaches have become such an issue so recently, as so many firms are still trying to work out the requirements of each new deployment, which takes time.
Still, studies have indicated that more businesses are already beginning to use third-party provided security solutions such as email encryption and data center services to ensure the integrity of their infrastructure and information, as this can help to reduce unpatched vulnerabilities despite rapid deployments. In the coming years, those firms that remain as proactive and comprehensive in their planning will often enjoy the greatest level of protection against threats.
Focus on mobile It has been no secret that the personal computer market is being slowly but surely overshadowed by tablets, smartphones and portable devices, not to mention wearable's and other tools that would fall into the Internet of Thing trend. Now, it appears as though smartphones will remain as some of the more common purchases by companies and consumers for the coming years, as International Data Corporation recently released its latest Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
According to the report, roughly 1.25 billion units are expected to be purchased and shipped by year's end, representing roughly 23.8 percent annual growth compared to 2013. Although these prolific numbers have been around for years now, the analysts did point out that global sales will begin to balance out and level off since penetration rates have already reached such high levels.
"The smartphone market, which has experienced runaway growth over the last several years, is starting to slow. Mature markets have slowed considerably but still deliver strong revenues with average selling prices (ASPs) over US$400. Meanwhile, many emerging markets are still barreling along, but with ASPs of less than US$250," Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's mobile phone team, explained. "The key for vendors now is to maintain a presence in the higher-margin mature markets, while establishing a sustainable presence within the fast-growing emerging markets. To enable this strategy, operating system companies are partnering with OEMs to provide low-cost handsets."
IDC released a separate report regarding its Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Track, which revealed that sales are beginning to balance off, especially in the developed world where consumers have already purchased a wealth of these tools. However, emerging markets are experiencing significant growth in terms of purchases and shipments, expanding at 88 percent in 2013 and a forecast 12 percent this year.
Despite this slower growth, it is worth noting that personal computers are still falling by the wayside and tablets are likely to see at least a few more spikes in demand in the coming years.
What this means for security With all of this in mind, it should not be that surprising that more companies are beginning to spend higher dollar amounts on security for mobile, cloud computing, social media and data management than ever before on the global scale. Gartner recently released a trends report that called for a 7.9 percent increase in spending on IT security on the global scale this year, rising to a total market revenue volume of $71.1 billion. This is forecast to accelerate again, with the researchers projecting 8.2 percent year-over-year growth in 2014.
"This Nexus of Forces is impacting security in terms of new vulnerabilities," Gartner Research Director Lawrence Pingree explained. "It is also creating new opportunities to improve effectiveness, particularly as a result of better understanding security threats by using contextual information and other security intelligence." Businesses will need to ensure that their security strategies are up to the task when new devices and solutions enter the corporate infrastructure, and leveraging the services of a proven vendor can make a world of difference in the long run.
David Bailey is Senior Vice President at Protected Trust.
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