Our firm is the agency-of record for the prestigious RSA Conference. Today we held a worldwide media teleconference in which 3 key IT Security analysts (Ray Wagner of Gartner, Michael Rasmussen of Forrester and Charles Kolodgy of IDC) were tasked with providing the press community with insights on the "hottest market trends" and a preview of the upcoming Conference (Feb. 13 - 17, 2006, in San Jose, California).I was honored to serve as the moderator. Throughout the session, I could not help but be impressed by just how BIG an issue IT Security has become. Remember when firewalls were the Big Thing? Now, it takes 3 analysts just to scratch the surface of this market.
Our agency has handled A LOT of security clients, and we still do. In fact, a hefty percentage of our business comes from this arena. Part of me has worried about the need for diversification...and while, yes, this is sound thinking, I was also put at ease today by the analysts' comments. Based on the fact that Security is getting bigger and bigger, with a) plenty of room for more innovation and, b) plenty of bad guys out there, I found myself less concerned with our percentage of Security clients.
I also made sure to update my anti-virus software!