Vendor Accent

Service semantics of managing security complexities

Vishal Dhupar discusses how MSS can help address security risks by managing organizational security

Economic progression has led to business systems integrating more with technology, and this, in turn, has made managing security complexities the number one challenge for organizations the world over. Even though enterprises are beginning to spend more on information security, they are uncertain why.

Without systematically measuring value, it becomes difficult to recognize how security can enable high performance. It is therefore critical to understand organizational risks involved and their potential impact. Organizations are turning to managed security services (MSS) which provides enterprises’ a complete solutions portfolio for IT compliance, minimizing security breach occurrences and mitigating risks at acceptable costs under the management of experienced specialists.

Solutions for the entire vertical spectrum

A recent Gartner study revealed the Indian IT services market is slated to grow to $10.73 billion by 2011 at a five year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.2%. Out of these, the mainstream segments already witnessing strong growth include consulting, IT management and business process management (BPM) services.

While the value proposition is more or less similar, MSS is applicable to any industry sensitive to security issues although demand may vary. This constitutes just about every defined vertical market today. While the banking and financial domain top the list for managed security services demand, this is closely followed by telecom, retail, healthcare, education, utilities, insurance, manufacturing and government.

Boasting an estimated market size of Rs 181 crores in 2007, MSS is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Indian IT industry. This will increase over the next five years with companies across industries looking to adopt MSS’ real-time capabilities to enhance their portfolio.

Choosing the right provider

With constantly evolving technologies and attack techniques making security a moving target, organizations are exposed to new risks nearly every day. By partnering with a vendor that offers powerful technology along with accurate threat intelligence, proven processes, and experienced professionals, organizations can significantly improve their protection while meeting complex compliance demands and maximizing their IT investments.

A growing number of organizations are discovering that outsourcing security monitoring to a capable vendor enables them to better protect their information assets, reduce their vulnerability to threats and free IT to focus on core business issues.

With these cost-effective, real-time services, organizations will be able to achieve compliance and reduce risks in the face of today’s ever-changing security threats. A complete services portfolio helps demonstrate IT compliance, minimize the impact of security events and mitigate security risks at an acceptable cost.

It is therefore imperative for vendors to provide a solution that is both scalable and affordable to help organizations realize significant business benefits: By providing manageable pricing over time, the services will help manage security budgets predictably in a fast-changing threat landscape. On the other hand, by getting in front of security risks with early detection and blocking, these services reduce the risk of compromise.

Bridging the organizational gap for regulatory compliance

Another major requirement would be regulatory compliance. 24/7 monitoring and management ensures critical support for regulatory and auditing mandates so as to help enterprises meet compliance requirements and avoid potential penalties.

To meet these compliance requirements, MSS will continue to be one of the major IT themes for 2008, a study by Forrester revealed.

In fact, a few vendors have taken consulting to a completely new level by introducing advanced options such as outcome-based services, which is an emerging trend we see in the market place. While within the IT industry, vendors provide products, they do not provide solutions in themselves. Outcome-based services ensure customers get enough returns on investment. We see this as a major revenue driver in the security services space and managed security services make up a significant part of it.

The future is MSS

Essentially, MSS was conceptualized to help businesses improve their security posture by monitoring their infrastructure in real time against threats. Clearly, protecting information is now a high-profile business priority, which makes meeting regulatory requirements an important component of a risk management program.

In the near future, MSS is expected to become more complex but at the same time more adaptable as per the customer’s need, be it India or anywhere else in the world. Along with major verticals such as BFSI, we foresee the ITeS/ BPO, telecom, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors also looking to managed security services.

The author is the Managing Director, Symantec India