Enterprise Security

Enterprises and end-users are making buying decisions based on vendor innovation. So says the recent IDC study, 'Innovation in the Security Software Market: Top Vendors from a Mindshare Perspective'. This indicates that organizations may be looking for value in their software investments, and not just the price. In general, many companies in the region may come across as being price sensitive, but this survey result suggests that companies may be willing to invest in more expensive software solutions if they see the value of their investments to the business.

The study reports that traditional heavyweights like Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, IBM, and Microsoft have been perceived by enterprise IT users to be innovative in the area of security software. However, large infrastructure software vendors, who were a part of the IDC survey, indicated that security wasn't their primary focus. This shows that other product lines in the portfolio of the vendor could have influenced the perception of how innovative a vendor's security products are. These players may have the opportunity to leverage their brand equity to leapfrog competitors in the security software business, especially if they are trusted names in the market for other products.

When respondents were asked about the benefits they look for when software vendors innovate, the response that made it to the top 3 list in all 4 countries was 'more value for money as vendors bundle new features in products'.


The top benefits mentioned when software companies innovate for Indian companies include 18% cost savings, 20% fewer integration problems, 5% improved business productivity, and 21% more value for money as vendors build new features in products.