Hosted Security Landscape Report reveals essential market insights for 2020

The independent survey of key decision-makers within companies from the UK, France and Germany with more than 50 employees clearly shows better security, cost benefits and improved functionality to be the most influential factors, with the most commonly realised benefits of hosted security solutions including Video Surveillance-as-a-Service (VSaaS) and Access Control-as-a-Service (ACaaS). These solutions are part of a cloud security market that’s expected to grow from US$4.1 billion in 2017 to US$12.7 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 25.5%.

The ‘2019 Landscape Report: Hosted Security Adoption in Europe’ is the second study of its kind conducted by Morphean and facilitates a better understanding of market trends with comparative data from 2018. It reveals that 84% of IT managers are currently using (48%) or considering using (36%) a hosted security solution, which is broadly consistent with the 89% who said they would consider such a solution last year.

The document also shows that better security ranked third among the main benefits realised by the cloud (44%) compared to 27% in 2018. That’s a 63% increase in the year and emphasises something of a shift in perception around cyber security concerns.

Key survey findings

*Better security, cost benefits and better functionality are viewed as the most influential factors as well as the most commonly realised benefits of hosted security solutions

*Half of respondents cited better security as the foremost benefit of using VSaaS/ACaaS, with better functionality (42%) and cost benefits (38%) placed second and third respectively

*Half of IT managers have identified data/information security as a priority for improvement in the next 12 months

*84% of IT managers are currently using (48%) or considering using (36%) a cloud-based video surveillance or access control solution

*Of those still considering VSaaS and ACaaS, 79% of respondents to the survey anticipate introducing these solutions to their business within 12 months

*77% of IT managers report that physical security isn’t optimised, while 20% have identified physical security as a priority for improvement in the next 12 months

Overcoming initial concerns

Rodrigue Zbinden, CEO of Morphean, stated: “Our research clearly points to a market that’s overcoming initial concerns about cyber security, understands the clear benefits of hosted services and reflects growing confidence and purchase intent for 2020. The increased appetite for hosted security presents an opportunity for us to work with businesses to help them improve their physical security, while also educating them on the potential business intelligence benefits offered by surveillance and access control solutions when integrated in the cloud.”

The growing confidence in cloud seems to translate into more positive purchasing intentions around hosted security solutions, with 77% of IT managers reporting that physical security isn’t currently optimised and one-in-five identifying it as a priority for 2020.

Of those considering hosted security solutions, four-in-five (79%) anticipate introducing them to their business within a year. While this clearly represents an opportunity for the IT reseller community to enhance its service offer, the report does highlight two trends that may inhibit growth: the first being the physical security industry’s ability to adopt the ‘as-a-service’ business model and the second system integration with emergent technology such as Artificial Intelligence.

Alex Hilton, CEO of The Cloud Industry Forum, added: “With cloud technology we have a toolset that changes the way in which businesses think and act, ensuring a competitive landscape for years to come. Morphean’s latest research reveals that decision-makers are seeing better security, cost benefits and improved functionality as a result of a switch to cloud-enabled security solutions. Cloud presents very real opportunities, but vendors need to hone their offerings and capabilities in order for its full potential to be realised across all markets and sectors.”

Drop in cloud investment

The Morphean study also found that there has been a 5% drop in cloud investment over the past year. In 2018, 33% of the IT budget was spent on cloud services over the previous 24 months and this figure has dropped to 31.38% for 2019. This is in spite of the fact that the majority of respondents (78%) had said that they expected cloud-related spending to increase due to the favourable benefits it presents.

It’s not the only contradiction to be found in the report, either. Cloud is key to driving operational performance, and yet 78% of IT managers questioned feel that this area of the business is under-performing, while only 36% identified it as a priority for future improvement.

*Download the 2019 Landscape Report: Hosted Security Adoption in Europe

By Brian Sims for RiskExtra Magazine.