Security Manager Budget Cuts and Fire Drills

The Director of Security for a Fortune 500 and a consultant for one of the leading security firms provide insight into the security budgeting process.

Johnson & Johnson clearly demonstrates the pullback forced by the recession: "You start to sharpen your pencil in this kind of environment. . . . Leave it alone and we can do this next year or two years from now. Naturally, if it fails between now and then, we have to bite the bullet and we need to change it."

When you look at the far steeper drop in IP sales relative to analog, this is a good summary of the motivation and thought process behind it.

Likewise, the TRC security consultant describes the reactionary nature of many security projects: "It’s often a fire drill for us, yes. Sometimes clients are motivated to address their security by good planning and appropriate awareness. More times than not however, a high-profile incident at or near a client’s facility drives the call to action."

These interviews are from a series published by ASIS of speakers at the September conference.