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Hybrid Work Drives Demand for Integrated Security Suites

As more multinational organizations adopt distributed workforce policies for their employees, CIOs are seeking superior IT and networking solutions that will scale to support fully protected hybrid working models. That includes end-user computing apps that can securely adapt to any device.

Gartner reports that enterprise security and risk management spending grew by 6.4 percent in 2020 due to increased demand.

Worldwide spending on information security and risk management technology and services is forecast to grow 12.4 percent and reach $150.4 billion in 2021, according to the latest market study by Gartner. 

Security & Risk Management Market Development

Gartner analysts believe that the strong growth rate reflects continuing demand for remote worker technologies, such as the digital workspace, and public cloud security for SaaS applications.

"Organizations continue to grapple with the security and regulatory demands of public cloud and Software as a Service," said Lawrence Pingree, vice president at Gartner.

Looking ahead, Gartner analysts report early signals of growing automation and further adoption of machine learning technologies in support of artificial intelligence (AI) security. To combat cyberattacks, organizations will extend and standardize threat detection and response activities.

In the Gartner 2021 CIO Agenda Survey, cybersecurity was the top priority for new spending, with 61 percent of the more than 2,000 CIOs surveyed increasing investment in information security this year.

Security services including consulting, hardware support, implementation, and outsourced services represent the largest category of spending in 2021 -- at almost $72.5 billion worldwide.


In contrast, the smallest but fastest-growing market segment is cloud security, particularly cloud access security brokers (CASB). "The pace of client inquiry indicates that CASB is a popular choice for cloud-using organizations," said Mr. Pingree.

This is due to the growing popularity of using non-PC devices -- such as smartphones and tablets -- for interacting with core business processes, which creates security risks that can be mitigated effectively with a CASB.

Furthermore, CASBs enable safer interaction between SaaS applications and unmanaged employee-owned devices.

According to the Gartner assessment, integrated risk management (IRM) technology is also seeing robust double-digit growth resulting from risks highlighted during the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Outlook for Secure Remote Working App Growth

Gartner says areas of significant risk driving near-term demand include the advent of new digital products and services, and related health and safety uses, as well as third-party risks such as customer data breaches or supply chain attacks.

That said, I believe we'll see more organizations actively explore a comprehensive solution that delivers and manages any app on any device by integrating access control, application management, and multi-platform endpoint management.

This holistic approach to the distributed workforce phenomena enables savvy IT organizations to ensure access to a flexible digital workspace solution without sacrificing enterprise-grade security and control.

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