MidMarket Tech Leaders Look to Cut Security Costs While Keeping Network Safe

Most midmarket CIOs are looking to cut their overall costs of securing their data and networks in the coming year, but a good 40 percent of them are planning to fund security system projects to support that goal.

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That’s one of the findings of a recent survey of 138 senior midmarket IT executives we conducted about a wide range of issues, from staffing to SaaS adoption to the overall value business sees in IT. (For a full breakdown of the survey results, see CTO Edge Editorial Director Mike Vizard’s analysis here.)

On the security front, 78 percent of the IT execs who responded to the survey said their companies view security as important or a high priority (which, if you listen to a lot of trade press, seems a tad low). Interestingly, only 41 percent of IT execs said they view heightened compliance pressures – a big driver for the focus on security – as a complete positive for IT.

Overall, 59 percent of respondents said they plan on increasing their IT spending in the next 12 months. With the pressure to decrease security in particular, investments in that channel will likely be with an eye toward great automation of traffic and threat analysis – which of course promises operational savings. (You’ll also want to check out this list of innovative security companies and products as cited by the RSA Security Conference.)

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Click through to learn more about security and spending issues facing mid-market tech leaders for 2010.

Cutting their companies’ spend on securuty is either a medium or high priority for 59 percent of CIOs.

While 78 percent say their shops consider security to be at least an important priority.

The CIOs themselves have an overall positive view of compliance pressures, a key driver for security spending.

40 percent say they have plans to spend on security upgrades in the next 12 months.

While only 21 percent say they have plans to substantially increase the number of projects their teams plan to tackle in the coming year.

38 percent of CIOs expect overall spending to increase somewhere between 1 percent to 10 percent.