Why You Should Consider Hosted Messaging Security

Why You Should Consider
Hosted Messaging Security sponsored by
An Osterman Research White Paper
Published February 2009 SPONSORED BY
sponsored by
sponsored by Osterman Research, Inc. . P.O. Box 1058 . Black Diamond, Washington 98010-1058 Phone: +1 253 630 5839 . Fax: +1 866 842 3274 . info@ostermanresearch.com . www.ostermanresearch.com Why You Should Consider Using Hosted Messaging Security
Save Costs While Improving Email Security
Hosted, or "in-the-cloud", messaging security capabilities are becoming increasingly popular with organizations of all sizes. Some have already adopted hosted services, while others are becoming more receptive to the notion of using third party services to manage their security infrastructure than they were just a year ago. Particularly driven by the current economic recession, decision makers are realizing that hosted email security can provide a cost-effective solution while actually improving security. Based on various surveys, Osterman Research forecasts strong growth for hosted messaging services of various types, as shown in the following figure. Strongest growth within the cloud-based services market will be in the email security market, and this market is expected to lead other categories of outsourced services over the next several years. In a major study of the hosted services market conducted by Osterman Research in 2008, anti-spam and virus protection were the two hosted offerings that organizations identified as services that they will likely or definitely deploy to supplement internally managed infrastructure. Although some organizations will have a vendor host their entire email infrastructure, there is a value to using a dedicated hosted email security solution from a vendor that specializes in content security. North American Forecast of Outsourced Messaging Seats in Mid-Sized and Large Organizations 2008-2011 (% of Corporate Email Users Served)

©2009 Osterman Research, Inc. 1 Why You Should Consider Using Hosted Messaging Security
WHAT DRIVES THE DECISION TO USE HOSTED EMAIL SECURITY? So what does it take for decision makers to consider hosted email security? In a survey of 117 email security decision makers conducted specifically for this report, respondents indicated that cost, privacy, and an offering from a well-founded vendor of on-premise security solutions were likely or very likely to persuade them to consider a hosted email security solution. Survey question: "To what extent would the following make you more likely to consider using hosted email security?" Response shows the respondents that were likely or very likely to be influenced by the following items. Response % Proof that a hosted email security solution could reduce your 71% email security costs by 50% Privacy guarantee as part of a Service Level Agreement 61% Proof that a hosted email security solution could reduce your 59% email security costs by 20% Proof that a hosted email security solution could substantially 58% reduce your IT labor investments for email security A hosted email security offering from a major provider of on- 47% premise email security offerings Most notable is the percentage of businesses that would consider a hosted email security solution if it reduced their costs. Almost 60% said they would consider hosted if it saved them 20% of their costs, while more than 70% said they would consider hosted if it reduced their costs by 50%. The focus of this white paper is on evaluating the costs of an on-premise solution and comparing it to hosted email security systems, including hybrid systems that combine on-premise capabilities with cloud-based services. This paper is supported by data from a survey conducted specifically for this report, as well as a simple cost analysis showing the cost of on-premise systems. THE COST OF ON-PREMISE EMAIL SECURITY Many decision makers believe that the cost of an on-premise security infrastructure is lower than using hosted services because they are not fully accounting for all of the costs of the internally managed system. The results from the survey conducted for this paper showed that 48% mostly or completely agreed that hosted email security is more expensive than on-premise, gate... [download for more]