
Customer adoption of managed security services is expected to rise exponentially across Asia Pacific during the next four years, driven by demand in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
According to GlobalData findings, the market of data and security management is expected to reach US$20.2 billion in Asia Pacific by 2023 as enterprise focus on protecting critical data assets heightens.
From a geographical standpoint, the countries forecast to lead the charge are Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, alongside Japan and South Korea.
During the forecast period, Australia, China and Japan are estimated to become the largest managed security services hotspots in the region, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the overall market by 2023.
“Cyber security laws and regulations, and amendments introduced in various countries are forcing companies to focus on security compliance,” said Sunil Kumar Verma, lead analyst, GlobalData.
“As a result, majority of the companies in the region are increasingly outsourcing their security practices to security services providers, either partially or entirely. Against this backdrop, the operating model with regards to security practices management continues to shift from a capital expenditure [CAPEX] to an operational expenditure [OPEX] model.”

In looking ahead, Verma said enterprise organisations across Asia Pacific will “further strengthen” cyber security capabilities in the months and years ahead, triggering increased demand for channel expertise and services.
“Enterprises across all types and sizes either lack the required resources or do not have the capital required for monitoring their business themselves,” Verma explained. “As a result, they are increasingly relying on security specialists for their various requirements, which will continue to become more complex as they expand.”
Citing recent examples in Australia, Verma referenced the government allocation of $230 million to “beef up” cyber security initiatives. Likewise in New Zealand, through government funding of $10 million to support a Pacific cyber security strategy.
Furthermore, Verma expects the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 to further boost market demand for security services, “owing to the increasing number of people and enterprises being involved in the event”.
“Going by historical records, cyber attacks have increased in host countries around event periods, such as during the Olympics in 2012 and 2016, and during the Asian games in Korea in 2018,” Verma cautioned.
Alongside government support and enterprise initiatives to strengthen cyber security capabilities, Verma cited the "growing maturity" of cloud and the "mandatory adherence" to cyber security compliance requirements as other key factors in regional services spending.
This is in addition to an expanding connected devices ecosystem, initiatives to reduce CAPEX and a focus on core competencies, leading to outsourcing secondary capabilities.