Put 5 economists in a room with 5 industry researchers and you will be sure to get at least 25 answers as to what is happening in the economy and how it will affect the IT industry. Lately both the web and the press has been swamped with the opinions from the big research houses, each offering their own take on how bad the economic slowdown is and how it will affect the channel. For solution providers, the problem becomes who to believe and what to do about it! After all, much of the information offered is speculation and is often contrary from researcher to researcher.
Those planning for the future of their businesses have to try to find the silver lining in statements such as those from Gartner Research, which states, "While Gartner still sees no evidence of widespread IT budget cuts, negative economic news appears to be making enterprise buyers more cautious. It is still possible that a deepening economic slowdown could result in aggressive steps to reduce or even freeze IT budgets."
At least one channel player is trying to put a positive spin on things and that is Astaro Corporation, a security appliance vendor. Astaro has been conducting their own research to find out what an economic down turn may mean to their partners and that research indicates that there may be a safe haven for VARs looking to weather the coming economic storm.
Countering Gartner's research, Astaro CEO & cofounder Jan Hichert says "Security threats continue to increase by Malthusian proportions, requiring additional security functions to stave off attacks. This game of catch up is increasingly strained when budgets are tight, which makes finding a solution that continuously adds new layers of protection all the more important."
Of course Astaro has a vested interest here, the company does want to sell more of their products and grow their market share, but even so, Astaro is offering some compelling research that makes a lot of sense. (visit astaro.com for more information). Basically, the company feels that SMB administrators will be looking to cut back costs and workloads in face of a looming recession, and that means consolidating and simplifying their security solutions. If that is indeed the case, then that is good news for VARs servicing the SMB security market, and not only just those selling Astaro's products.
While the economy may be in a state of flux, there is still one certainty - security is an important and growing market that cannot be ignored!