IT budgets may have been tight in 2003, but CIOs seemed to save room for security.
According to some fresh data from a Meta Group survey, 66% of surveyed companies left enough room in their 2003 IT budgets for security-related investments. They didn't leave room for much else.
Security was a bigger priority this year than last. Meta found that companies spent just more than 8% of their entire 2003 IT budgets on security. Last year's figure was 7.6%. In 2001, it was barely more than 3%.
That 8% largely represented dollars spent on employee education, business continuity and disaster recovery -- insurance policies against possible damage from internal threats, as well as outside attacks.
Researchers asked CIOs why their budgets were so lean in 2003. Most of the respondents blamed unimpressive profits and the shaky financial climate. But many CIOs said that their IT infrastructure and capacity are fine the way they are, with little need for more investment.
The Meta research dovetails with a recent
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Forrester Research Inc. study, which found that security and disaster recovery investments will be the top priorities for CIOs in 2004.
Both Forrester and Meta predict the insurance sector will lead the IT spending pack in 2004.
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