With The 2023 Security Benchmark Report, Security magazine builds upon the analysis of self-reported data from enterprise physical security leaders we have collected via the Security Benchmark Survey. In each report, we present data across the security industry as a whole in the main report, and we break the data down by sector in our sector reports.

In addition to the value-add of sector and industry comparisons, security leaders can gain insights into industry trends by comparing The Security Benchmark Report data year-over-year. Security magazine collects data on security budget, technology, new initiatives, training and threats.

Each year, we ask The Security Benchmark Report respondents to rank their top issues/concerns for the year and forward-looking to the next year. The top three security issues/concerns for security leaders in 2023 and forward-looking to 2024 in The 2023 Security Benchmark Report are workplace violence, ranked first; business continuity and business resilience, ranked second; and cybersecurity, ranked third. In 2022, survey respondents identified the top three issues/concerns for 2022 and forward-looking to 2023 as workplace violence, business continuity and resilience, and staffing and training. In 2021 and forward-looking to 2022, security leaders reported workplace violence as the top issue as well, but COVID-19 took the second spot, and business continuity and resilience was ranked third.

From these findings, we see that workplace violence and business resilience are consistently ranked as security concerns. Looking at the third concern year-over-year, we see trends in security threats from 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2021, security organizations were grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, staffing and training may have been affected by the Great Resignation. Now, security leaders report concern with cybersecurity.

In terms of budget, the average security budget as a percentage of revenue reported by participants in The 2023 Security Benchmark Report was 2.3%. In the 2022 report, this metric was measured at 2.9%. In 2021, the average security budget as a percentage of revenue was 0.6%. These numbers also varied by sector, which can be explored in the sector reports.

Benefits of benchmarking

Below are some of the benefits benchmarking can have on a security team and for the industry as a whole.

• Assessing your security program: Benchmarking can serve as a critical tool for maturing a security program. Both from a compliance perspective to an innovation standpoint, security leaders should work to achieve full visibility into their programs not just at a point in time, but over a period of time.
• Innovating: By aligning an enterprise security program with the business, security leaders can help both the business and their security team stay at the forefront of the field by enabling the business and staying ahead of threats. With insights into what their peers are doing, security leaders can help each other advance enterprise security posture.
• Proving value: With a strong foundation of benchmarking, it can become easier for security leaders to track their program’s progress and prove the effectiveness of their initiatives.

For further benchmarking information, read on to learn more from The 2023 Security Benchmark Report.