Reducing risk and developing a better view of their security environment are among the top security concerns of IT pros this year, according to a National Security Survey by VidSys. The survey also found that budgetary constraints are a primary obstacle to achieving security goals.

This year’s survey of senior-level IT and physical security professionals includes responses from a near-equal mix of public and private organizations.

Research Highlights

Organizations Heavily Focused on Risk Reduction

• 59 percent of organizations say that risk management ranks among their top concerns.
• 72 percent of this year’s participants say the ability to have a proactive, risk-focused approach that ensures greater overall security with a holistic view of the enterprise is “Important” (45 percent) or “Extremely Important” (27 percent).
• 56 percent of participants say they expect the biggest benefits of planned security changes to be minimized risk, followed closely by improved situation response times (36 percent) and reduced operational costs (36 percent).In stark contrast, 81 percent of 2011 respondents said they expected their biggest benefit to stem from improved situation visibility.

Increased Focus on SOP Development and Need for Complete Security Environment View

• The percentage of respondents who indicate they need technology for a complete view of their security environment to manage situations or events effectively across their organization has climbed steadily over the past three year — up to 26 percent in 2012 from 13 percent in 2010.
• When asked to identify the top three items they plan to implement to improve operations during the next 12-18 months, 64 percent of 2012 respondents say they would like to focus on developing SOPs — a huge increase from 2010′s 14 percent and 2011′s 17 percent.
• In addition, 40 percent of those surveyed this year indicate they specifically plan to invest in developing SOPs for their organization’s security, up from 33 percent in 2011.

Budgetary Concerns Continue to Stymie Momentum

• 53 percent of 2012 respondents say that insufficient budget is by far the biggest organizational obstacle to moving their security organization forward in the next 12-18 months. These budget concerns are down from 2011′s 81 percent, but elevated from 2010′s 31 percent.

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