Security isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a must-have. In this era of corporate governance and accountability, no organisation wants to be explaining why its customers’ data was left in a taxi, on an unencrypted flash drive, for example. Compounding the problem is the fact that security threats increase during tough economic times as employees, and others, try to find ways to get that extra R50 they need to make ends meet.

It’s no surprise then that the companies Brainstorm spoke to indicated that spend is ongoing, despite the recession, and has, according to some, actually increased. Says Synaq technical director David Jacobson: “Managed [security] services spend hasn’t declined. In fact, I would think it’s slightly on the increase. In many circumstances it is more cost-effective for an organisation to go the managed services route rather than do it itself, especially if IT isn’t its core business.”