Spending on security technology by US small and medium businesses (SMB) continues to show strong growth and will reach $5.6bn in 2015, according to a latest report by International Data Corporation (IDC).

Total SMB IT spending is forecast to grow at a rate of 5-6% per year during the period, whilst SMB spending on security products and applications is expected to grow almost twice as fast.

Changing SMB needs, such as the empowering of mobile workers and dependence on cloud resources, have made security an important enabler of resources for growing companies, IDC researchers said.

IDC Small and Medium Business Markets research vice president Ray Boggs said, "SMBs are more focused on security as a way to gain access to more capabilities, but less focused on security as a cost to be reduced once minimum standards are met."

IDC Security Products vice president Charles Kolodgy said the expansion in key capabilities, especially online ones, as a major driver of new SMB security investment.

"Small and medium-sized businesses have as much need for information technology as much larger companies," Kolodgy added.

"They also require security because they are a target of cybercriminals. But there are unique issues that prevent SMBs from just buying what large enterprises purchase."

About 19% of small firms with less than 100 employees noted improving security and security management as major IT spending priorities and this doubles to 36% among medium-sized firms between 100-999 employees.

SMB spending on software-as-a-service and security appliances are both forecast to grow at double digit rates in the coming years.
IDC stated to address SMB customers needs, vendors have to understand three components, namely understanding the big picture SMB opportunity, the product needs of SMB prospects and the SMB purchase process.

The report series highlighted six key security product areas, endpoint, messaging, network, Web, identity and access management and security and vulnerability management which will all show strong growth throughout the forecast period.