VidSys survey: Funding for security an ongoing challenge

Vidsys’ third annual survey of senior-level IT and physical security professionals includes responses from a near-equal mix of public and private organizations. Survey findings reveal that most organizations are focused on risk reduction, standard operating procedure (SOP) development and the adoption of technologies that provide a complete view across the security environment.

According to the survey:

• 59 per cent of organizations say that risk management ranks among their top concerns.
• 72 per cent of this year’s participants say the ability to have a proactive, risk-focused approach that ensures greater overall security with a holistic view of the enterprise is “Important” (45 per cent) or “Extremely Important” (27 per cent).
• 56 per cent of participants say they expect the biggest benefits of planned security changes to be minimized risk, followed closely by improved situation response times (36 per cent) and reduced operational costs (36 per cent).

The percentage of respondents who indicate they need technology for a complete view of their security environment to manage situations or events effectively across their organization has climbed steadily over the past three years — up to 26 per cent in 2012 from 13 per cent in 2010.

When asked to identify the top three items they plan to implement to improve operations during the next 12 to 18 months, 64 per cent of 2012 respondents say they would like to focus on developing SOPs (standard operating procedures) — a huge increase from 2010’s 14 per cent and 2011’s 17 per cent.

In addition, 40 per cent of those surveyed this year indicate they specifically plan to invest in developing SOPs for their organization’s security, up from 33 per cent in 2011.

Fifty-three per cent of 2012 respondents say that insufficient budget is by far the biggest organizational obstacle to moving their security organization forward in the next 12 to 18 months. These budget concerns are down from 2011’s 81 per cent, but elevated from 2010’s 31 per cent.