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Goldman Sachs Security Spending Survey: Big Growth Opportunity for SaaS
The latest Goldman Sachs Security Spending Survey released March 2010 suggests that security budgets are expected to bounce back to moderate levels in 2010 and will capture larger shares of overall IT budgets, growing from 5% to 7% in the long run. What are the major drivers for this? For one - the proliferation of “prosumer” tools in the workplace such as smartphones is a large concern due to their weaker security profiles. It is imperative for IT budgets to extend protection to mobile users as well. Traditional appliance and software-based security solutions are often unable to keep up with the exponentially expanding portfolio of mobile devices. As a result, SaaS security is gaining momentum as the only real choice to protect an increasingly mobile workforce.
 

The report also suggests that another major driver is the increased adoption of Web 2.0 applications in the workplace as the proportion of SaaS users grew from 10% to 20% (Exhibit 4). Some organizations have become more comfortable with the idea of relying on embedded security within web applications for the security of the data. However, a significant proportion recognizes the need for additional security. Consequently, there is also a growing demand for cloud delivered security and IDC predicts 25% compounded annual growth in SaaS security solutions between 2008 and 2013.
Even though Messaging Security is currently the leading segment within the SaaS market (comprising 39% in 2008), all other security segments are expected to trend towards this as well. Web Security SaaS in particular is expected to experience a CAGR of 47% over five years. To obtain full details of the report, please contact The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.1
 
 
1 Friar, Sarah. Withers, Stephanie. Stoichev, Ventsi. “Security Spending Survey: Moderate optimism in 2010; Cloud posing new challenges”. Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. March 1, 2010
 
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