With much talk of budget cuts, many US-based organizations are still willing to pour dollars into their physical security initiatives, at least according to a recent study from by IMS Research. In fact, 45 percent of end users say that their security budget increased in 2012, the study found.
“It’s clear that end users are still feeling the risk to their facilities — and that means there’s plenty of opportunity for manufacturers of physical security equipment,” said Niall Jenkins, manager for video surveillance and security services research at IMS, in a press statement. “Just having a budget available was actually one of the top two reasons for end users paying to replace or upgrade their systems as well.”
The survey, which polled 200 end users of physical security equipment across North America, found that the majority of these organizations are dedicating large amounts of resources to physical security. In fact, 44 percent reported that their organization’s annual budget exceeded $100,000 while one in five had more than $500,000 annually.
“Budgets either stayed the same or increased last year for those that spent approximately $200,000 and also for 85 percent of the overall market,” Jenkins noted. “I wouldn’t say that the security boom is over just yet.”
Even with bigger budgets, users report concerns. Despite investing in new equipment, buyers say that their biggest worry is that vendors will suspend support for newly-acquired security products while they are still being productively used within the organization, the survey found.
Especially as the market in the US transitions from analog to network-based video surveillance, vendors are shifting their product mixes and ending support for products, said Jenkins in an interview with IFSEC Global. “There’s also a transition to the use of video analytics, PSIM, and wireless infrastructure,” he added. “In the fire market, you don’t see that pace of development, while intruder alarm and access control are probably somewhere in the middle.”
In addition, some vertical markets feel better served by security vendors. “The majority of end user markets, when asked about whether security meet their needs, were positive, but the transportation industry overall jumped out as one vertical that said the security industry wasn’t meet their needs,” Jenkins told us.
So, let us know. Is your budget on the rise? Where do you plan to invest?
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