India security market is to grow 8pc in 2014, says Gartner

BANGALORE, INDIA: Security vendor revenue (hardware, software and services) in India will grow from $882 million in 2013 to $953 million in 2014, according to Gartner, Inc. Security spending will continue to grow in 2015 when revenue is projected to reach $1.06 billion. Security services (that includes consulting, implementation, support and managed security services) revenue accounted for more than 55 percent of this total revenue in 2013 and this trend will continue into the foreseeable future.

"Enterprises in India that traditionally did not focus on, or invest in, a lot of security technologies are now beginning to realize the implications that a weak security and risk posture can have on their business," said Sid Deshpande, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Vertical markets, such as banking and financial services, that have had a strong focus on security are now preparing themselves for the Third Era of IT Digitalization by investing in technology approaches that can enable them to grow their business securely while embracing digital business models. Though this heightened awareness is creating increased budget allocations for security, there is still a skills deficit in the security space in India (relative to the demand), consequently driving up the market opportunity for security consulting, implementation and managed security services.

Organizations are today increasingly more aware of security considerations in India, driven by the following factors:

• Highly visible security incidents in 2013 and 2014

• Increasing financially (corporate espionage, underground economy) and politically (hacktivists and nation states) motivated advanced targeted attacks

• Renewed regulatory focus on security and privacy (both at a country and industry level)

• Overall IT spending growth

While security awareness is increasing steadily among enterprise buying centers, the consumer security sub-segment will display modest growth. The importance of data privacy and security is not well understood by consumers in India and this situation is likely to continue to affect market growth in the consumer security space.

Leading security adopters from mature technology buying segments, such as banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), telecom, oil and gas, and utilities, are looking to enhance their deployment of preventative security controls with continued focus on security operations and incident response, with a view towards protecting against advanced targeted attacks.

In 2013 and 2014, there has been a slew of merger and acquisition activity in the security space globally. The increasingly complex nature of threats is driving security providers to fundamentally change the way they address their customers' security challenges and communicate their message effectively. The renewed security opportunity presented to providers by Indian enterprises brings with it sales and marketing challenges for security providers as well.