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On Your Mark. Get Set. Budget!

added: 08.08.2013, by Mike Spinney

We’re in the Dog Days of August and, while our bodies may be relaxing on the beach or, perhaps, in the mountains, our minds are being nagged by the thought that business planning for 2014 awaits our return to the office.

Sorry to have reminded you of that.

If you are in IT tech market analysts IDC say you can expect that your budget will be a little bigger next year. IT spending increased 4.6% globally, down from a projected 4.9% and from last year’s growth rate of 6%, according to this story in Forbes.

IDC’s calculations are consistent with a spot survey of more than “100 leading European information security professionals” conducted by BDS International, who say that continental IT budgets seem to be on the rise by as much as five percent. And while the lion’s share of the budget is being spent on business growth and operations, the new money is largely being used for priority projects related to cloud, data, document, mobile and social media security.

In fact, 38 percent of the infosec executives surveyed said their top priority is document security. Clearly the message I’ve been preaching from this digital pulpit is having an effect.

But it makes sense. Security systems can be purchased and implemented, but what is it you want to secure? For most organizations, the value is contained in the documents being created, stored, managed, and shared on the network. It’s become popular to describe data as the “new oil,” and if that’s true then the intellectual property being generated from that raw crude is the gasoline and LPG and other products that come out of the refinery.

Where does that leave you, small business owner or sole proprietor who operates without a CISO or a fat security budget? While all the big companies are spending more, you are looking for ways to save, while still operating with the same level of trust that your customers have come to expect.

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