Also, companies with top performing procurement organizations report profit margins 15 percent higher than the average company – and 22 percent higher margins than companies with low performing procurement organizations.

The 2013 Chief Procurement Officer Study was conducted by the IBM Institute of Business Value (IBV) and highlights the business impact that Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) can have on a company’s competitive advantage and profitability.

How top performers can increase their influence

It explores how top-performing CPOs can increase their influence over strategic business imperatives by driving efficiency and performance, introducing innovative new processes and uncovering new insight into supplier networks that have a measurable effect on the bottom line.

The largest of its kind, the study surveyed 1,128 procurement executives in 22 countries across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Of the respondents, 15 percent were found to be top performers, defined by their ability to exert influence and drive innovation across their companies, while also excelling at procurement fundamentals.

The study identified several common actions that enable top performing procurement organizations to achieve such impressive results. They: 

• Gain Insight Through Big Data Analytics – By using analytics to tackle Big Data challenges, CPOs can gain new insights into internal business operations and their supplier networks to identify vulnerabilities.  83 percent of high performing CPOs excel at leveraging analytics compared to just 63 percent of the low performers.
• Collaborate Well Within and Beyond the Enterprise – Social Business technology helps global procurement organizations to connect with internal and external partners. According to the study, 80 percent of high-performing companies report that collaboration across departments, such as IT, marketing and sales, is both a key strength and an investment priority, compared to only approximately 45 percent of low performers.  High performing procurement organizations see the benefit of close partner collaboration, and therefore are more likely to create strategic alliances.  For example, top performers direct 38 percent more of their annual spend through strategic alliances than low-performing organizations.
• Adapt to Changing Market Conditions – By using big data insights and collaboration, high performing CPOs are in a better position to quickly respond to changing internal and external conditions, from demand changes to supply disruptions and product redesigns. The study showed that 73 percent of top performing procurement organizations are effective at gathering insights from the supplier community, compared to only 16 percent of lower performing counterparts.

Tens of millions at stake

“There are tens of millions of dollars at stake, and the IBM IBV CPO study reveals how and why high performing procurement leaders have significant impact on their organization,” said Craig Hayman , general manager, IBM Industry Solutions.

“As CPOs take a broader view of their role and embrace technology, they have an unprecedented opportunity to become even more instrumental in transforming their organizations by modeling themselves against the world’s most innovative and effective procurement organizations.”

As companies re-align their organizations to take a more customer-centric approach, the role of procurement professionals is changing from a traditional back-office, transaction oriented role to one with more visibility and influence among C-suite executives, who are keen to manage risk that can undermine profitability.

CPOS well positioned to pinpoint supply vulnerabilities

CPOs are well positioned to help identify and mitigate supply-related vulnerabilities because they serve as the bridge between suppliers and internal consumers. Similarly, procurement teams can utilize data analytics to help improve demand forecasts and identify additional savings opportunities within spend categories.

To be influential and secure a seat among c-suite executives, procurement professionals must exploit their unique position as a conduit between the enterprise and the outside world to improve their company’s responsiveness to dynamic market conditions, while minimizing risk, volatility and price fluctuations that can compromise profit margins. In reviewing the survey findings, key capabilities to achieve these objectives include employing best practices with procurement technologies and talent development.

There is a strong correlation between being a top performing procurement organization and effectively using procurement technologies.

For example, in regards to Supplier Relationship Management, the study found that 94 percent of top performing companies are highly effective in their use of procurement technologies, compared to 44 percent of all surveyed companies are average or below average in their technology effectiveness.

Most important area of investment

The study also found that CPOs think that supplier intelligence solutions, including 360-degree global view of supplier relationships and procurement performance dashboards, will be the most important area of investment over the next three years.

Top performing organizations also are turning to social business for innovative ways to manage their global teams and collaborate with their suppliers.  The study found that high performers are more likely to use social tactics such as crowd sourcing (81 percent) and collaborating on product development with suppliers (88 percent), versus their low-performing counterparts (38 and 47 percent respectively).

CPOs of top performing procurement organizations know that success depends on getting skills and expertise needed to execute the mission they have been given. By percent, twice as many top performers as low performers view recruiting and talent development retention as a key strength. Top performers also extend these human capital advantages because they are equally aggressive in their investment plans for retention, recruiting and talent development.

For more information or to download the full report visit www.ibm.com/business/value/chief-procurement-officer

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However, consumers are more likely to be aware and protect themselves against a tangible threat, such as having a device stolen, than intangible threat such as malware or hacking.

The consumers whose devices were lost or stolen were more likely to use PINs or passwords than those who didn’t have their devices lost or stolen (69 percent versus 47 percent), but no more likely to take any other proactive actions, such as remote locking, tracking and/or erasing apps (45 percent versus 41 percent).

Editor’s note: The first thing we did after buying a new tablet computer was install anti-virus software, the same as we did with our mobile phone. But we’re in the minority.

Fewer than a third install anti-virus on mobile devices

Oddly, only one in five view smartphones as mini-computers, but more than half (53 percent) view cybersecurity the same way on mobile devices as they do on computers. Less than a third (31 percent) installed an anti-virus program on their smartphone, compared to 91 percent on a laptop.

Thankfully, consumers are nearly as likely to run updates on their smartphones (66 percent) as on their laptops (69 percent).

Disconnect on cybersecurity

Yet the survey clearly shows that there is a disconnect on cybersecurity between consumers awareness and their actions. However, consumers are beginning to take valuable steps to protecting themselves and their information.

A majority of consumers (66 percent) review their wireless bills for suspicious activity at least once a month. Of those who use their mobile devices for online banking, more than half (56 percent for tablets and 55 percent for smartphones) use encryption or security software.

When asked what would prompt them to add a password or install anti-virus software to their personal tablets or smartphones, 35 percent said having a friend or family member suffering a security break; 33 percent said an app that reminds them to update anti-malware software or to change the PIN; 32 percent said a tutorial that prompts them; 27 percent said a friend’s advice; 26 percent said advice from a device or network provider; and 23 percent said from the media stories that explains the benefits.

Of these same consumers surveyed, two thirds (67 percent) believe industry is better equipped to write cybersecurity regulations than the federal government.

“Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, from the consumer to the app creator to operating system to the device manufacturer to carriers and everyone in between. Through our Cybersecurity Working Group, our members are working hard and being vigilant to protect their customers, but it’s great to see that end users recognize their vital role in preventing cyberthreats,” said Steve Largent , President and CEO of CTIA, which commissioned the survey.

“Yet there’s much to do, which is why CTIA and our members will continue to focus on consumer education so users know the wide variety of apps, tools and features available to help protect their information and their devices.”

The survey was conducted in November 2012 with more than 1,500 adults who own a cellphone or smartphone. The CTIA Cybersecurity Consumer Research survey by Harris Interactive presentation is available at: http://ctia.it/18Lzlv3 (PDF).

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On behalf of CTIA, Harris Interactive conducted the survey on workplace technology practices and attitudes toward mobile security, which also showed some surprising results regarding knowledge of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).

While only 30 percent of consumers were very or somewhat familiar with BYOD, 47 percent had never heard of it. Yet the numbers for IT professionals were more modest than expected with 55 percent who were very or somewhat familiar, while 26 percent admitted they had never heard of it.

More than half engage in BYOD use

Despite unfamiliarity with the term, when told the definition, more than half of users said they engaged in some sort of BYOD behavior.

While the percentages varied, the top five information or applications used by employees were email, calendar and scheduling, databases, company apps and directories.

Users and IT decision makers’ answers varied on a number of questions in the survey, but there were several areas of agreement. 47 percent of users said there was no formal policy at their office, which closely matched up with the 42 percent of IT experts who said there wasn’t one.

Employees trust their IT departments with 83 percent saying their smartphones are very or somewhat secure which climbed to 85 percent for tablets. The IT professionals were less optimistic, but still confident in their security efforts for smartphones (68 percent) and tablets (70 percent).

Whose responsibility is it?

When it comes to whose responsibility it is to keep the devices secure, both users (82 percent) and IT professionals (67 percent) say it’s the user’s primary duty. Regardless of a company’s size, both companies with less than 500 (72 percent) or 500 or more employees (62 percent) said it’s the employee’s responsibility.

When asked what steps they have taken to protect their mobile devices, consumers say they have installed or used software updates (63 percent); password/PINs (58 percent); anti-virus programs (43 percent); location tracking (38 percent); and an app to remote lock, locate and/or erase data (34 percent).

When asked what the IT department has done to protect the devices, users say they have installed or used password/PINs (34 percent); anti-virus programs (28 percent); software updates (26 percent); restrict downloads (25 percent); and restrict access to certain employees (22 percent).

Security less likely at smaller firms

This is similar to what IT professionals state they have installed or used: password/PINs (46 percent); anti-virus programs (38 percent); network certificates (37 percent); VPNs (31 percent) and restrict access to certain employees (31 percent).

Despite similar BYOD incidences for companies of all sizes, smaller companies (fewer than 500 employees) are less likely to take action to protect employees’ mobile devices and less likely to communicate the importance of protective security action to their employees.

Not surprisingly, their concerns over BYOD risks are low with 67 percent saying the benefits strongly or somewhat outweigh the risks.

This makes sense to us here at the TechJournal, where we deal with many tech startups. Few of those companies provide mobile devices to employees, who usually work on their own mobile equipment.

The survey was conducted in February 2013 with 250 Information Technology Decision Makers and more than 1,000 full-time employed mobile device users. The BYOD survey presentation is available at: http://ctia.it/10Yb2Tc (PDF).

For more information on how to protect one’s mobile devices, see: http://ctia.it/ST7xir

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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Travelosity founder Terry Jones.

The world’s future leaders overwhelmingly believe that today’s businesses cangrowonly if they can innovate – and that today’s business leaders aren’t demonstrating they’re up to the task.

While that’s the thinking of nearly 5,000millennials – the 20- to 33-year-old generation – at least one baby boomer, the innovator who transformed the U.S. travel industry with his creation of Travelocity and Kayak.com, agrees.

“The future for any business today depends entirely on its ability to innovate, and the youngest adults, ‘the idea generation,’ know that,” says Terry Jones, author of “On Innovation,” a light-hearted but practical guide for fostering and innovation.

Listen to millennial innovators

“The millennials are the group known for pioneering new ideas, rethinking processes, end-running hierarchies and solving problems by doing what simply makes sense to them. We need to listen to them; they’re the innovators!”

But the worldwide survey of adults born after 1982 found that only 26 percent believe their bosses are doing enough to encourage innovation. The study by Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu Limited, publishedin January, reported 78 percent believe innovation is crucial for growing businesses.

Jones says there are some definite steps business leaders can and should take to ensure their company is hearing employees’ ideas, recognizing opportunities, and ensuring a clear path to execution.

1. Build a culture of experimentation. Not every project will succeed but you can’t learn from mistakes if you don’t allow them to happen. The corollary: Always analyze what went wrong. Why didn’t it work? To use a sports analogy, watch the “game films” to improve and learn as much from failure as you do from success.

One fast and easy way to experiment is to test options out online. Whether it’s polling customers, measuring which approach gets the best response, or allowing a segment of your customer base to test drive a new tool, the results can be invaluable…

Kill projects not people. In many companies, people stop offering up ideas and volunteering for projects because the punishment for failure is greater than the reward for success. Lunch with the boss or a $100 bonus do not compensate for the risk of being demoted or fired, or suffering a tarnished reputation. When a project fails in a company with a culture of experimentation, the first thing you shoulddo is say, “Bob, what would you like to work on now?!”

3. Break thru the “Bozone layer.” Some of the greatest ideas for innovation will come from the employees on the front lines – those in direct contact with customers or production. But their ideas will never float up to the executive suite if you’ve created a “Bozone layer” by making it too risky for middle managers to experiment. (See No. 2.)

While you’re turning the culture around, find ways to reach down to the front lines to solicit  ideas. Implement them and reward the contributors with a big, public shout out – which will help you start changing for the culture.

4. Install “sensors” to pick up customers’ ideas.  Don’t just look to employees for innovation – learn from your customers. They have ideas for new products and new uses for existing products, and their customer service complaints are a fertile source of ideas for improvement. Listen! Social media or a forum on the company website is a good sensor for picking up ideas; Glad Wrap’s 1000 Uses site is loaded with them.

For customer service complaints, Travelocityinstalled a lobby phone booth where anyone in the company could listen in on customer service calls. Once a month, everyone was expected to provide feedback on at least two of those calls, and suggest an improvement to eliminate similar future calls plus a work-around for the interim.

Terry Jones founded Travelocity.com in 1996 and led the company as president and CEO until May 2002. He is managing principal of On, Inc, a consultancy he cofounded to help companies in their transition to the digital economy, and serves as chairman of the board at Kayak.com, which he also helped found. Previously Jones had a 24-year career at American Airlines holding various executive positions, rising to Chief Information Officer at their SABRE Division.

Jones is the holder of several patents, has served on the boards of directors of 10 companies and began his career as a travel agent in Chicago. He holds a degree in history from Denison University.

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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The tests in 20 U.S. markets including Ann Arbor, Mich. show AT&T wireless customers are benefiting from blazing-fast wireless Internet speeds.

AT&T has taken its share of criticism for various wireless connection issues over the years. Ours, however, has performed flawlessly. But then again, as a friend of mine who did have connection problems said, I seldom leave the Interstates.

The 2013 PCWorld/TechHive speed tests showed AT&T led all carriers tested in Ann Arbor, Mich. with an average upload speed of 6.7 mpbs and an average download speed of 15.2 mbps.

AT&T also outpaced the competition last year in PCWorld/TechHive’s 2012 wireless Internet speed tests, having delivered faster download speeds than any other national carrier in 13 cities tested.

Speed is the name of the game for mobile Internet service, as customers are taking advantage of smartphones and apps to help manage their busy lives. In this year’s PCWorld/TechHive report, AT&T led the speed tests with an average download speed of 13.15 mbps and an average upload speed of 6.45 mbps in the 20 U.S. markets tested.

“With consumer demand for wireless data continuing to grow rapidly, it’s more important than ever that U.S. wireless carriers not only keep pace with demand, but deliver network speeds fast enough to enable new mobile web experiences,” said Jason Snell , Editorial Director, PCWorld/TechHive.

AT&T launched 4G LTE** in Ann Arbor, Mich. in September of 2012, and it plans to expand its 4G LTE network to cover 300 million people nationwide by year-end 2014. Even as 4G LTE expands, customers can get 4G speeds outside of 4G LTE areas with our 4G HSPA+ technology.

The AT&T 4G LTE network has also been recognized for speed and performance by other third-party testing firms. AT&T 4G LTE is available in 228 markets and covers more than 200 million people. Improving the wireless network continues to be a priority for AT&T.

Here at the TechJournal, we’d be interested in hearing about your experiences with AT&T’s LTE service. Is it as fast as advertised?

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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Personally, we stream a lot of media, primarily movies. We usually have to go to multiple sources, Netflix, Hulu, SnagFilms, YouTube and even the Internet Archive to find everything we might be looking for. That, apparently, is not unusual.

How about you? Do you need multiple sources to meet your streaming needs?

Looks like when it comes to the battle of the sexes, things are streaming up. See who likes to do it where, when, and just how often — brought to you by M-GO.

Here’s an infographic with the details:

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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That sort of concern, backed up by the many high profile data breaches at companies large and small over the last few years, is one reason some people are still wary of using credit cards to shop online. It’s also a motivator to use alternative currencies such as bitcoin.

 To increase controls around cardholder data and reduce credit card fraud, the industry-wide Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council first defined its Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) in 2004 and updated it in October 2010 to current version 2.0.

Frost & Sullivan‘s white paper, Protect Customers with PCI Compliance, analyzes the risks for data breaches and theft in the contact center, and helps contact center managers understand the actions that can be taken to increase agent vigilance and data security.

Rigorous, multilayered response needed

Taking steps to identify and prevent cybercrime in customer contact channels involves a rigorous multilayered response.  This includes meeting and complying with the PCI DSS standard by submitting to and passing periodical comprehensive scoping, assessment, validation, and reporting requirements, and by meeting the standard between assessments.

“Compliance with data standards like PCI DSS is entwined with preventing data theft.  To manage both issues often requires expert advice and recommendations from experienced companies like SPS,” said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Brendan Read .

Strategic Products and Services (SPS) offers PCI DSS compliance consulting and advice.  SPS also supplies a wide range of other services that support PCI DSS compliance including interactive voice response (IVR) and call recording solution selection and implementation.

Successful social media customer care

“PCI considerations come up in many parts of a contact center’s business processes, many of which have implications on technology choices for encryption, recording, data storage and retrieval,” said SPS Chief Technology Officer, Mike Taylor .

“Requirements differ, based on the customer’s industry and size of the data center operation.  SPS provides guidance to ensure that customer data management is PCI-compliant, especially in the areas of IVR systems and call recording. We tell them what is required and what is possible for an operation in their industry and size.”

Frost & Sullivan also released a white paper titled: Enabling Successful Social Media Customer Care, which is another goal for many contact centers that are engaging with customers through social media channels.

Customers are already using social media to voice issues, obtain information and support, and to collaborate and network with other customers. Contact centers that successfully monitor and engage with these channels gain an opportunity to display highly proactive customer service.

But integrating contact-center systems with social media channels introduces new business challenges and opportunities, along with the significant IT integration requirements.  Security concerns, confidence scams, and even implications for PCI compliance over social media can raise additional requirements.

Click HERE to access the white papers and videos related to this release .

“Social media is fundamentally different from all other customer engagement channels in that it transmits public conversations one-to-many rather than private ones one-to-one. This factor, above all, makes providing effective and secure customer care over the social channel challenging,” said Read.

Create a single department

To be successful with social media, Frost & Sullivan recommends that firms create a single department responsible for customer engagement strategy across all media – one that has ongoing participation by other departments, including Corporate Communications, Marketing, and Legal.

Making use of customer social media usage requires advance planning, supported with the right blend of social monitoring software.

Using such systems, customers are associated with targeted “social profiles” which enable the firm to pursue a strategic and customized social strategy that correctly targets individual customer contacts.  Policies must also be put in place to govern what content may be published to social media channels by contact-center agents.

“Blending social media into the wider picture of the total customer experience requires a thorough approach, combining business process consulting and communications technology,” said Taylor.  “A strategic communications partner like SPS can help you understand what’s possible, develop and prioritize your plan of action, and provide a single point of accountability through implementation.”

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan’s Analysis of the North American Machine-to-Machine Software and Services Market research finds the market earned revenue of $175.4 million in 2012 and estimates this to reach $788.4 million in 2018.

“The increased value proposition of extracting proprietary raw data and converting it into business insights promotes new M2M applications in a variety of end-user segments,” noted Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Muthuraman Ramasamy .

Here at the TechJournal, we’ve heard from a number of venture capital firms that M2M is one of the hot sectors where they look for potential investments. They’re particularly interested in anything businesses can use to gain competitive advantages.

Impact remains high

“The impact of this driver remains high throughout the forecast period, as a number of emerging applications will surface in the M2M space owing to the vast amount of data obtained from an ever increasing number of connected devices.”

Partnerships between network operators, device makers, platform providers, and system integrators help provide customers with end-to-end solutions, thereby fuelling market growth. Mobile network operators (MNOs) and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that facilitate communication between the devices and the software platform are playing a significant role in the M2M space.

Federated sales cycle coming

“The go-to-market strategy of direct sales will be replaced by a federated sales cycle, where device makers, platform providers, and system integrators are partnering with these MNOs and MVNOs to provide a complete, holistic solution for the end user,” added Ramasamy.

“This, in turn, will lead to greater adoption of M2M solutions, as they provide a one-stop shop for customers for solutions across diverse vertical markets. Over time, the M2M market will see more forged partnerships arise to develop complete solutions customized for specific end-user segments.”

The service management space is a key focus area for OEMs trying to cut the large costs incurred on post-sales service, maintenance and repair. Remote monitoring is one of the key M2M applications across vertical markets that allows an enterprise to reduce service management costs and is expected to pave the way for a new breed of service excellence models.

“A number of vertical markets are seeing tremendous potential for remote monitoring,” remarked Ramasamy. “From monitoring assets in the oil and gas industry to remote health monitoring in the healthcare industry, the benefits of adoption are more clear to see.”

The M2M software and services market is clearly moving toward integrated solutions, with customers combining their legacy systems to enhance efficiency.

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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Social media is not sending much traffic to ecommerce sites despite significant brand investments, according to - Monetate, a customer experience engine. Its Ecommerce Quarterly report (Q1 2013) also found that while tablets and smartphones are grabbing more device share of ecommerce traffic, only a handful of companies optimize for those devices.

Among the report’s key insights:

• Social media is lagging as direct traffic source to ecommerce websites and for online purchases, despite brand investment. Social media represented just 1.55 percent of all ecommerce traffic, way behind search (31.43 percent) and trailing email (2.82 percent). And social media traffic numbers were down from Q1, 2012, when they were 2.36 percent. The data lead to the question: Should brands change their approach to social marketing?
• Tablets and smartphones are grabbing more device share of ecommerce traffic. Tablets and smartphones were 21.02 percent of traffic, compared to just 2 percent two years ago. Tablets (10.58 percent) led smartphones (10.44 percent) in ecommerce traffic. Despite the rapidly increasing traffic being driven to sites through tablets and smartphones, only 14 percent of companies optimize for tablet users and only 13 percent optimize for smartphone, compared with 43 percent that personalize for desktop users, based on a recent Econsultancy survey.
• It pays to market to U.S. military personnel. The numbers show conversion rates among military personnel in the U.S. (5.15 percent), Europe (4.30 percent) and Asia (3.57 percent) were significantly higher than the overall U.S. consumer segment (2.53 percent). And the average order value of military personnel was 23.39 percent higher than shoppers across the U.S.

“As marketers know, data can tell a story and the EQ1 2013 tells the story of a fast-growing ecommerce market where companies face growing opportunities and challenges,” said Blair Lyon , vice president, marketing, Monetate.

A panel at TechMedia’s Digital East conference.

“We focused this EQ on social commerce since the data shows the companies have not yet cracked the code in leveraging social media to drive ecommerce traffic. We know that social media plays an important role in influencing social purchases – to what degree brands are able to leverage social to build loyalty is the next big question.”

Here at the TechJournal, we suspect part of the problem of leveraging social media is that it’s time consuming and cannot be simply push, push, push. As many of the experts who attend TechMedia’s digital summits have said time and again, companies have to master techniques that engage their customers in a dialog and that’s a lot easier said than done.

Not only that, in many cases, the tactics a company uses to successfully leverage social media probably vary considerably from firm to firm, industry to industry, and product to product.

It’s a much more complex problem than just post and go.

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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The development of next-generation IPS (NGIPS) products with advanced protection capabilities has further spurred adoption.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan , Analysis of the Global Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) Market, finds that the market earned revenues of more than $1.21 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach $2.44 billion in 2017.

NGIPS gaining acceptance

The growth in long-term, targeted advanced persistent threats (APTs) indicates that hackers are now well-organized and highly-skilled, and are most likely funded by nation-states or large criminal organizations. Hence, while enterprises continue to install IPS to detect traditional malware, the increase in APTs primarily compels customers to upgrade to IPS.

“NGIPS solutions are gaining acceptance owing to their ability to inspect traffic based on detailed contextual data such as application type and user identity, as well detecting malware for which there are no signatures or other detection methods available,” said Frost & Sullivan Network Security Industry Analyst Chris Rodriguez . “Optionally, many IPS products can provide basic web application firewall capabilities, data loss prevention, botnet detection, or distributed denial-of-service prevention services.”

IPS products are popular as they also offer performance and scalability not provided in other low-cost, multi-function security products. The availability of purpose-built hardware to better defend against polymorphic threats, along with investments in research and development to improve the products’ security efficacy has boosted IPS vendors’ margins.

High costs deter some businesses

However, the high costs of these IPS solutions, which on average are more expensive than firewalls and unified threat management (UTM) systems, deter businesses already wary of large capital investments during a weak global economy.

Here at the TechJournal, we’ve long said that the cost of serious data breaches at companies is, in the end, far more expensive than preventing those breaches in the first place. The resources state inspired cyber espionage and large criminal organizations bring to bear to break in have to be matched by equally strong preventative measures. Even then, it may be an ongoing battle.

The integration of IPS with multi-function security devices and firewalls gives rise to UTM products with lower costs of ownership, and thereby affects the market’s overall value. The expertise required for IPS’ optimal performance adds to the total cost of ownership.

“Creating awareness on the benefits of next-generation solutions, which can fulfill customers’ security, networking, and compliance requirements, will be crucial to accelerate uptake,” noted Rodriguez. “Vendors must also build solutions that support network throughput speeds, and develop comprehensive strategies that will secure virtualization and cloud computing environments.”

© 2013, TechJournal. All rights reserved.

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