The US Security Industry Is Worth $350 Billion, So?

A new report claims that the US security industry is worth $350 billion (annually). So what?

The US GDP is $15 trillion, meaning security is just 2.3% of the economy, though I guess it would be less impressive to trumpet:

"97.7% of Money NOT Spent on Security"

I suppose $350 billion sounds a lot until one understands the context of the size of the total economy.

The report concludes that,

"Market intelligence is a must-have tool for all security directors planning their departmental and personnel budgets and resource needs, as well as for industry suppliers planning their marketing and product growth"

I genuinely do not understand how such numbers make any real difference in actual planning. It feels more like vanity marketing than anything real. Whether or not the market is $350 billion or $530 billion or $53 billion, it is not as if even the very biggest companies could achieve even a fraction of that total.

John,

I fully agree with your assessment. The truth is that almost all companies (very much like the Government) operate their financial household in a reactive way rather than based on long term risk and need assessments. Discretionary budgets get typically allocated on the basis of the "last crisis" and labelled "strategic". What prompted the major capital expenditures in security during the past years were mainly in reaction to the buzzword "terrorism". Obviously that buzzword has faded. Today's corporate investment criteria for security upgrades only fly if we can show the customer a solid ROI case and more importantly (or rather preferably) if we can demonstrate that the investment addresses more than just security. Anybody who puts out market estimates as in that study, is grabbing assumptions out of the air, as I said, very much like the Go Ernest does. As the world of statistics well knows, define your desired outcome and fill in the dots. Keep up your honest work and continue calling a spade a spade.