Breaking the security death spiral

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>> Guest Speaker: How do we break out of the current product and threat centric vespiral phonetic and become smarter, security partners? First, we start with that philosophical ship I mentioned earlier where security is no longer something that stops business activity. It is something that enables business activity. Security is an afterthought. It's security that stops business activity. Security built into the fabric of the business enables activity. Security vendors pushing products are business stoppers. Security vendors delivering smarter security are business enablers. They are delivering the combination of products, expertise, and services that mitigate the five factors of complexity, enable our customers to manage change. Second, we enable our customers to make an operational shift. When our customers are drowning in a sea of costs and complexity, it's no longer a matter of helping them do more with less. It's a matter of helping them change the game. Today's typical security department spends 80 percent of its time keeping the lights on and 20 percent enabling the business. This 80/20 rule needs to be reversed. When I was IBM CIO, I spent far less time on the day-to-day operations. I was focused on business processes and their redesign and on transformation. If I had a list of ten priorities, keeping the lights on was always number ten. Security management needs to make that same transformation that I lived through as a CIO several years ago. The transformation from technical fixer to corporate counsel can't be achieved by hiring more people. Budgets don't allow it, and there aren't enough smart people to hire anyway. Our customers need partners who can help them change the game by not only keeping the lights on for them but also providing expert consultation. This can only be achieved with partners who can deliver smarter security. Again, the combination of technology, services, and expertise that empowers customers to become business enablers. And third, we have to tame the cost fees. Security spending cannot continue at the current pace. According to Forster assumed spelling Research, security spending will consume 12.6 percent of the Enterprise IT operating budget in 2009, which is nearly double the spend from just two years ago. We need to deliver more value to our customers, and make them aware of new ways in which they can achieve their objectives for less money. Managed services, for example, can reduce security management costs by more than 50 percent. This is an absolute no brainer for reducing security spend, or for freeing up budget dollars from keeping the lights on so those dollars can be invested in business enablement. This is why managed services now account for more than 50 percent of the global security market for products and services according to Gartner assumed spelling. And spending on managed services is growing 17 percent per year according to IDC. Change will only accelerate with the evolution of the smarter planet. Being more instrumented, inner connected, and intelligent means business velocity will accelerate. Windows of opportunity will become shorter but more numerous. Decisions will be faster but more informed. New technologies and processes will proliferate, and collaboration will rise to new levels where even competitors collaborate to achieve efficiencies.

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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====