According to ESG’s 2010 IT Spending Intentions data, 55% of midsized (i.e., less than 1,000 employees) and enterprise (i.e., more than 1,000 employees) organizations will increase spending on information security products and services in 2010.

Great news for the industry, but further analysis provides a more succinct picture: while 61% of enterprises will increase spending, less than half (48%) of midsized companies will do so. Marketing VPs should take note and filter budget dollars toward enterprise sales and marketing programs.

Furthermore, information security spending intentions vary widely by industry. The industries most likely to increase spending include financial services (69% of organizations), health care (57% of organizations), and federal government agencies (56% of organizations). State/local government (47% of organizations), education (42% of organizations), and manufacturing (41% of organizations) are less apt to increase information security spending.

As for sales of individual security products, financial services, health care, and the federal government are looking at big enterprise security projects like identity management and information assurance, while state/local government, education, and manufacturing are more focused in tactical areas like network or endpoint security.

ESG’s data backs a theory I’ve had for a while: there are no more horizontal markets. Rather, different companies and industries use technology very differently.

Smart security vendors understand this and apply these lessons to their go-to-market execution. Others continuously struggle.

Related posts:

1. Vertical Industry Networking Spending Will Vary by Industry in 2010
2. Health care bill, networking and security
3. The ESG Vertical Industry Opportunity Scorecard
4. Good News on IT, Networking, and Security Spending in 2010
5. Nearly half of large mid-market and enterprise organizations will increase networking spending in 2011

Tags: Cybersecurity, information security