During the last four years an ever increasing number of businesses across North America and Europe have been gradually migrating their IT services and infrastructure “to the cloud” . By leveraging reliability of new virtualization platforms, businesses have found that they can not only streamline their IT expenditures, but also receive the benefit of professionalized Managed Service Providers who maintain higher levels of expertise in such areas as network security. However, companies looking for effective IT security in the emerging markets of Asia, Africa and South America do not have the luxury of time. Over the past several years, there has been a remarkable leap in the uptake of security services provided by cloud based MSPs across emerging markets.
SMBs in these emerging markets are placed under the dual strain of focusing on business development while never forgetting to maintain adequate levels of network security. These “adequate levels” are dictated by an increasingly developed regulatory environment coupled with the increasing volume of actual security threats. Businesses in these markets often do not have the resources, budget and know-how to bring security in-house. Instead, they favor Managed Service Providers for their expert, effective and cost-efficient processes in helping these companies equip themselves with the necessary security tools to protect their operations.
Countries seeing significant increases in the proliferation of Managed Services include South Africa, India, China, and many other countries spanning the Asia Pacific and South American regions. It is not just larger enterprises utilizing the services of MSPs, but also smaller organizations that are recognizing the value of sturdy, secure management and the benefits of outsourcing.
Frost & Sullivan suggests, for example, that the Asia-Pacific Managed Security Services (MSS) Market grew an estimated 15 percent in 2009, totaling revenues of just over US$1.31 billion. The Asia-Pacific MSS market is forecasted to exceed US$4 billion by the end-2015, with revenues rising at a compounded growth rate of 19.7 percent annually for the next five years.
For companies with expanding and decentralized infrastructures and operations, outsourcing IT security to MSPs is a compelling option as it allows companies to focus on the key components of their business, while remaining confident that their security is safeguarded. This is particularly relevant to companies based in India, where business is often conducted from multiple offices in multiple locations.
The Managed Services Security Market is also gaining traction in Latin America. This is due to increased compliance with global and local legislation, which in turn encourages businesses to turn capital expenditure into funds for outsourcing services. This activity encourages a reduction in IT security spending, in exchange for increased investment in core business activities. Analysis performed by Frost & Sullivan maintains that in 2009, the Latin American MSS market reached a total of $154.3 million USD in revenue with activity in Brazil representing 54.2% of the market.
