COVID-19 drives spending growth for A/NZ security services

Despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19 in the security landscape, IDC forecasts steady growth for Australian and New Zealand security services, with managed security services, threat detection and response services, and data security and privacy solutions tipped for increased investment. Businesses managing the impacts of COVID-19 have also prioritised remote work/learning, security and trust to enable business continuity and resiliency.

Security Services revenue is forecast to reach AU$5467 million by 2024, with revenue to grow from NZ$464 million in 2019 to NZ$821 million by 2024 in New Zealand. IDC’s forecast represents a five-year CAGR of 12.3% for 2020–24. IDC forecasts that managed security services will have the strongest growth across security-related services.

Emily Lynch, A/NZ Associate Market Analyst for IT Services and author of the COVID-19 and Future of Trust on Australia and New Zealand Managed Security Services report, notes that COVID-19 has changed security priorities, with managed security services in Australia and New Zealand to benefit.

“Organisations are facing additional challenges in maintaining their security environments. Working from home and remote learning expand the cyber-attack surface and exponentially increase the number of vulnerable endpoints,” Lynch said.

These new ways of working also accelerate demand for network security, identity access management (IAM) and software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) solutions. Security must work ‘anytime, anywhere’, like employees and learners. The pandemic has blurred these traditional borders and should also lift the sophistication of security strategies. The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks hitting the NZX, MetService and other Kiwi organisations illustrate the importance of investment in modern security infrastructure and practices, to protect businesses from threat actors.

“Many A/NZ organisations intend to invest in specialist managed security services providers to help them navigate new ways of working at scale and improve their threat detection and response capabilities. These investments enhance an organisation’s security posture and demonstrate a commitment to growing trust in their partners and ecosystems,” Lynch said.

A recent IDC survey of A/NZ IT decision-makers showed that 81% of New Zealand and 73% of Australian organisations indicate further investment in managed security service providers is required to enhance their security. However, the COVID-19 pandemic places extra pressure on A/NZ security service providers to be flexible, empathetic and reliable. Customers will closely assess the support received from their managed security service providers to determine if they should trust their current provider during future storms.

“The pandemic has caused a massive shake-up in external services needs, and customers must now evaluate whether their current services provider ticks the new boxes created by COVID-19. Although not all customers are facing cutbacks, for many organisations, gestures of additional support and goodwill will go a long way to bolstering trust through the partnership and ensuring repeat business when the time comes for contract renewal,” Lynch said.

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