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According to new research by Westcon-Comstor, cybersecurity leaders at large enterprises in the UK are planning to ramp up spending on cloud security in 2025 and want channel partners to help them maximise their return on investment.
The global technology provider and specialist distributor surveyed 500 CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) and senior security executives at end-user organisations with at least 1,000 employees across five countries: the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the UAE.
Among the key findings is that 84% of security leaders in the UK intend to invest in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) and other cloud security technologies over the next 12 months. That’s slightly above the international average of 83%. Across all geographic markets, the top three priority areas for investment are AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Application Security Posture Management (ASPM).
In the UK, there is also a particularly strong desire to invest in Software Composition Analysis, with 45% of respondents highlighting this as an investment priority. This appetite to invest creates significant growth opportunities for channel partners in specific areas.
The vast majority (95%) of those surveyed across all markets currently engage with channel partners, including resellers and managed security service providers, when procuring and deploying such solutions. Training and enablement emerged as the most valued benefit from channel partners in the eyes of security leaders as they embrace CNAPP, especially in the UK. Indeed, 51% of UK-based respondents singled this out as their main requirement against an international average of 40% – suggesting strong demand for knowledge-building support to maximise cloud security capabilities.
Just under a third (29%) of UK respondents highlighted cost-effective access to new solutions as the primary reason for engaging with channel partners, while one in five (20%) said what they value from partners above all else is assistance when navigating the cloud security market and identifying the best solutions.
When asked about the main drivers of CNAPP adoption, security leaders emphasised the need to consolidate capabilities into a single unified platform, reducing the complexity and blind spots that come from using multiple cybersecurity vendors and tools. Other motivating factors include the need to integrate security and compliance testing seamlessly, and a desire to unify risk visibility across cloud environments and the application development lifecycle.
In the UK, 81% of security leaders agree on the need to adopt a DevSecOps approach to align with the ‘shift left’ trend that is seeing operational responsibilities shift toward developers and cloud architects. That’s a higher proportion than anywhere else and is set against an international average of 75%.
Publication of the research comes as Westcon-Comstor announces its intention to establish a new X2C (everything to cloud) cybersecurity go-to-market in 2025, driving partner and vendor growth across the four pillars of code to cloud, infrastructure to cloud, data to cloud and identity to cloud.
“CNAPP offers a holistic approach to securing cloud infrastructure, bringing together various security functions and capabilities in a single, unified platform to provide comprehensive security across the entire software development lifecycle, from code to cloud,” said Daniel Hurel, Senior Vice President, Westcon EMEA Cybersecurity & Next-Generation Solutions at Westcon-Comstor. “As the cloud security market continues to evolve, we’re seeing CNAPP become the go-to solution for securing cloud workloads. Our research suggests that this presents an opportunity for the IT channel, with particularly strong demand for training and enablement. Partners who establish themselves in this high-growth area stand to reap the rewards in 2025 and beyond.”
