AT&T Cybersecurity, IBM, DXC, Verizon Leaders on Omdia’s IT Security Services Benchmark Report

AT&T Cybersecurity, IBM, DXC and Verizon are market leaders on the latest Omdia benchmark report for global IT security services.

Omdia Universe of Global IT Security Services report covers five major IT security service areas. Those are: managed security services (MSS); cybersecurity
consulting, integration and advisory; threat detection and intelligence; industry cybersecurity solutions; and cybersecurity technology software resellers.

It includes profiles and ratings assessments on 10 IT security service providers based on their portfolio capabilities and customer experiences.

The Omdia report ranks global service providers as leaders, challengers or prospects in global IT security services.

Omdia’s Adam Etherington

Adam Etherington is principal analyst of digital enterprise services at Omdia.

“Most organizations (54%) now engage a third-party security service provider under an ongoing contractual relationship or ad-hoc engagement,” he said. “Flexibility, breadth and depth of security expertise, innovation [and] certifications are the key drivers. Cost is essential, but a lower order priority in the face
of rising risk and material impacts from a breach.”

Omdia Benchmark Rankings

According to this latest Omdia report:

• IBM, Verizon and DXC remain market leaders, scoring exceptionally well across customer experience and service capability dimensions.
• AT&T Cybersecurity is now a leader. Customers awarded the provider greatly improved recommendation scores. Capability scores rose from industry security capabilities, and progressed integration across security and network services with underlying platforms.
• Secureworks, Orange Cyberdefense and BT have extended security capabilities and lifted capability scores, and closed the gap with market leaders since the last report.
• Accenture continued to acquire capabilities and offer extensive scale, breadth and experience in complex IT environments. However, its limited innovation and lack of a clear strategy sustained its challenger position.
• NTT and Telefónica Tech are new additions to this year’s assessment, and performed well as prospects with good regional, end-to-end cybersecurity services capabilities.

Challengers include: Accenture, BT, Orange Cyberdefense and Secureworks. Prospects include: NTT and Telefónica Tech.

Large Enterprises Increasingly Under Attack

Large enterprises and government agencies are under increasingly sophisticated attacks, reaching new record volume and velocity, according to Omdia. Pandemic-fueled digital innovation and consolidation have resulted in sprawling IT estates, presenting a broad target for advanced persistent threat (APT) actors across networks, clouds, data systems and connected partners.

Not all service providers are equal in expertise, nor are they judged so by customers, according to Omdia.

“A core part of this … report is the independently commissioned customer experience survey regarding the likelihood of recommending and rating the quality-of-service experience among benchmarked providers,” Etherington said. “The likelihood of existing customers to recommend their security service provider ranged from a net score … of -4 to +45 this year. The average recommendations score dropped by 8 points year on year. As a result, providers that maintained or even improved scores this year bucked a trend and are a standout.”

Customers Aware of Providers’ Strengths

The customers Omdia spoke with knew what their providers were good at, felt well supported, had confidence in their expertise, and judged their organizations were getting incremental value despite the additional costs, Etherington said.

“Several executives also mentioned the ability to drive faster and more widespread change into their business by using a third party to arbitrate, advise and facilitate change management at scale in staff awareness and training, and cloud security,” he said.

Cybersecurity is increasingly complex and mission critical, Etherington said.

“Every firm is ultimately responsible for its cyber defense, risk and compliance,” he said. “But the degree to which they engage with service partners differs considerably. Executives naturally consider various security services to overcome broad-ranging challenges.”