Customers want broad security bundles

As we’ve noted before, security remains the biggest concern for CIOs and, in most cases, security is the biggest roadblock to convergence in general and to VoIP in particular. We’ve also talked a lot about how bundles are proving to be a strong solution to many enterprises. So it is no surprise that research recently conducted by Current Analysis strongly suggests that the era of stand-alone security products aimed at the enterprise is quickly coming to an end and that security must be an end-to-end, integrated aspect of any convergence solution. The study includes interviews with 306 enterprise decisions makers for security solutions.

As we’ve noted before, security remains the biggest concern for CIOs and, in most cases, security is the biggest roadblock to convergence in general and to VoIP in particular. We’ve also talked a lot about how bundles are proving to be a strong solution to many enterprises. So it is no surprise that research recently conducted by Current Analysis strongly suggests that the era of stand-alone security products aimed at the enterprise is quickly coming to an end and that security must be an end-to-end, integrated aspect of any convergence solution. The study is based on interviews with 306 enterprise decisions makers for security solutions.

In the report highlights, Current Analysis noted that, “Enterprise customers showed a strong desire for alternatives to traditional stand-alone solutions, particularly threat protection products. Only 4% of respondents believe that stand-alone products will remain the primary way that security vendors sell their products in 36 months. Enterprise customers continue to show a strong desire to acquire a broad set of security functionality, but have clearly reached their collective limit with respect to the administrative overhead associated with managing numerous stand-alone solutions.”

The research also found that the primary selection criterion for vendors of enterprise threat-protection solutions (along with the cost of the solution) is the ability for the security component to integrate with the enterprise’s broader infrastructure. So, while it’s important that an enterprise intrusion-detection system (IDS) works against a specific attack, enterprise customers are increasingly mindful of how well (and easily) the solution integrates with the overall networking infrastructure.

Current Analysis expects that the traditional leaders in enterprise security solutions – as well as new entrants and non-traditional players like Microsoft and Cisco – will need to change the way they approach their sales and integration tactics. For example, the report noted that, “While the Microsoft faithful are already converted, the company faces challenges in convincing a larger audience that it is a legitimate vendor of enterprise-class security solutions.”

The report concludes that, “Traditional security vendors will need to significantly broaden their bundled suites to meet the expectations of enterprise customers’ ideal integrated offerings. They will also need to face the cold prospect that the market for integrated security suites will be short lived because integration of threat protection functionality into computer operating systems is seen by enterprise customers as an even more likely future.”

For more information about the study, click here.