Abstract

This IDC Survey Spotlight provides a deeper look into how 791 worldwide organizations are planning to spend their 2021 security budgets by asking specifically about the identity and digital trust submarket for identity governance solutions.

The data comes from IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 6, July 2021, and the results appear to contrast a bit with broader security spending indications collected from IDC's COVID-19 Impact on IT Spending Survey, December 2020. North America respondents to the COVID-19 wave surveys were indicating a larger decrease in overall security spending (see Worldwide Identity Forecast, 2021–2025: Improving Identity Hygiene — It's Time for a Second Shot, IDC #US47318121, July 2021) back in December 2020. These findings add credence to IDC's belief that identity security has become a top priority supporting digital transformation projects and COVID-19-related shifts in how employees and business partners are staying connected.

The big question here is, How many organizations had previously invested in identity governance and whether this new enthusiasm represents more than a rubber stamp approval for all things related to identity security? It makes sense that organizations probably approved more access rights than were necessary as they all experienced digital business transformation changes measured in months rather than years. Spending for identity governance should be increasing, but somewhere down the line there will be trade-offs to be made regarding tighter access controls versus better ransomware defenses — although the two are often somewhat related.

Within certain vertical markets, new regulations are also driving a higher degree of investment in security tools that can document access and produce automated compliance reports saving dozens or more staff hours to prepare. Compliance reporting has always been a primary driver of demand for identity governance solutions.

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