SMBs to boost cloud security services over next three years

Small and medium-sized businesses are expected to boost the sales of cloud-based security services over the next three years.. And from there, it is only going in one direction: up. In fact, cloud-based security services will be worth $5.9 billion by the end of this year, rising to $9 billion in 2020.

Gartner analysts have forecasted SIEM, IAM and emerging technologies are the fastest growing cloud-based security services segments. “Email security, web security and identity and access management (IAM) remain organisations’ top-three cloud priorities," said Ruggero Contu, research director at Gartner. “Cloud-based delivery models will remain a popular choice for security practices, with deployment expanding further to controls, such as cloud-based sandboxing and WAFs.”

He added: "The ability to leverage security controls that are delivered, updated and managed through the cloud — and therefore require less time-consuming and costly implementations and maintenance activities — is of significant value to enterprises."

Increasing security threats, operational and cost benefits and staffing pressure are all expected to drive market growth. In particular, small and midsize businesses are driving growth as they are becoming increasingly aware of security threats. They are also seeing that cloud deployments provide opportunities to reduce costs, especially for powering and cooling hardware-based security equipment and data centre floor space.

"The cloud medium is a natural fit for the needs of SMBs. Its ease of deployment and management, pay-as-you-consume pricing and simplified features make this delivery model attractive for organizations that lack staffing resources," said Contu.

Sales to the enterprise sector are also expected to drive growth as they realise the operational benefits derived from a cloud-based security delivery model.

"On the one hand, new greenfield demand arising from emerging requirements from SMBs is driving growth. On the other hand, new competitive dynamics and alternative pricing practices threaten traditional business models," said Contu.