Historical Global Software and Cybersecurity Spending

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Historical Global Software and Cybersecurity Spending

Key Takeaways

  • The overall worldwide spending on enterprise software was approximately $2.7 billion in 1980. In 2020, spending on enterprise software amounted to around $467 billion.
  • The worldwide expenditure on cybersecurity was about $1.3 billion in 1980 and grew to reach $184.19 billion in 2020.
  • According to Morgan Stanley, the global military expenditure on cybersecurity "grew at a compound annual rate of 4.2% from 1980 to 2017."

Introduction

This research provides the global spend on enterprise software and cybersecurity at historical 5-year incremental points between and including the years 1980 and 2021. In 1980, the overall worldwide spending on enterprise software and cybersecurity were approximately $2.7 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively. More statistics are presented on the attached spreadsheet and in the research brief below.

Worldwide Spend on Enterprise Software

  • According to research published by FinalStepMarketing, a leading brand consulting and marketing firm, the overall worldwide spending for enterprise software grew from $2.7 billion in 1980 to over $30 billion by 1990 at a sustained annual CAGR of 30%.
  • Research also shows that the worldwide expenditure on enterprise software grew from $225.51 billion in 2009 to $467 billion in 2020, declining by $10 billion from 2019 due to COVID-19. In 2021, spending on enterprise software is forecast to amount to around $517 billion.

Worldwide Spend on Cybersecurity

  • Cybersecurity Ventures records the global spending on cybersecurity between 2004 and 2017. According to the report, the expenditure grew at a constant rate, from $3.5 billion in 2004 to over $120 billion in 2017.
  • The worldwide cybersecurity expenditure grew further to 184.90 billion in 2020 and is forecast to grow to 202.97 billion in 2021.
  • According to Morgan Stanley, the global military expenditure on cybersecurity "grew at a compound annual rate of 4.2% from 1980 to 2017."

Research Strategy

The team thoroughly reviewed market research databases, reliable news journals, and industry-related articles dating back to the 1980s to obtain the historical spend or market size of the worldwide enterprise software and cybersecurity solutions. We reviewed related reports published by Gartner Research, Computer Weekly News, GP Bullhound, FinalStepMarketing, MarketResearch.com, PR Newswire, Statista, and more. The team was able to identify precompiled statistics for some years and metrics that were key to calculate the figures for the increments not available. However, precompiled data points at historical 5-year incremental points between and including the years 1980 and 2021 were missing in the public domain. We achieved the results for the historical 5-year incremental points through triangulation.

CALCULATIONS
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

Worldwide Spend on Enterprise Software

A) Calculating Growth Rates

Growth from 1980-1990: CAGR of 30%, growing from $2.7 bn in 1980 to $30 bn in 1990
Growth from 1990-2009: CAGR of 11.20%, growing from $30 bn in 1990 to $225.51 bn in 2009 — {CAGR calculated using the CAGR calculator; where (i)=$30 bn, (f)=$225.51 bn, and (n)=19yrs}

B) Obtaining Historical 5-year Incremental Points (1980-2020, & 2021)

1980: $2.7 billion
1985: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 30%, (i) = $2.7 billion, and (n) = 5yrs, the global enterprise software spend (f) was roughly $10.02 billion
1990: $30 billion
1995: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 11.20%, (i) = $30 billion, and (n) = 5yrs, the global enterprise software spend (f) was roughly $51.01 billion
2000: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 11.20%, (i) = $30 billion, and (n) = 10yrs, the global enterprise software spend (f) was roughly $86.73 billion
2005: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 11.20%, (i) = $30 billion, and (n) = 15yrs, the global enterprise software spend (f) was roughly $147.47 billion
2015: $310 billion
2020:$467 billion
2021: $517 billion

Global Spend on Cybersecurity

Assumptions Made:
Data is lacking concerning the overall worldwide spend on cybersecurity prior to 2004. However, Morgan Stanley hints that the global military expenditure on cybersecurity "grew at a compound annual rate of 4.2% from 1980 to 2017." In the absence of other metrics concerning the growth of the cybersecurity industry during that period, a CAGR of 4.2% acts as a reasonable proxy for a total worldwide spend on cybersecurity. Therefore, in 1980, the global spend on cybersecurity was approximately $1.3 billion — calculated using the CAGR calculator; where (f) = $3.5 billion in 2004, (r) = 4.2%, and (n) = 24 years.

A) Calculating Growth Rates

Growth from 1980-2004: CAGR of 4.2%
Growth from 2004-2017: CAGR of 31.24%, growing from $3.5 billion in 2004 to over $120 billion in 2017 — {CAGR was calculated using the CAGR calculator; where (i)=$3.5 bn, (f)=$120 bn, and (n)=13yrs}

B) Obtaining Historical 5-year Incremental Points (1980-2020, & 2021)

1980: $1.3 billion
1985: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 4.2%, (i) = $1.3 billion, and (n) = 5yrs, the global spend on cybersecurity (f) was roughly $1.60 billion
1990: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 4.2%, (i) = $1.3 billion, and (n) = 10yrs, the global spend on cybersecurity (f) was roughly $1.96 billion
1995: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 4.2%, (i) = $1.3 billion, and (n) = 15yrs, the global spend on cybersecurity (f) was roughly $2.41 billion
2000:Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 4.2%, (i) = $1.3 billion, and (n) = 20yrs, the global spend on cybersecurity (f) was roughly $2.96 billion
2004: $3.5 billion
2005: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 31.24%, (i) = $3.5 billion, and (n) = 1yrs, the global spend on cybersecurity (f) was roughly $4.59 billion
2010: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 31.24%, (i) = $3.5 billion, and (n) = 6yrs, the global spend on cybersecurity (f) was roughly $17.88 billion
2015: Using the CAGR calculator; where (r)= 31.24%, (i) = $3.5 billion, and (n) = 11yrs, the global spend on cybersecurity (f) was roughly $69.63 billion

NOTE:
  • (I) = Initial value (starting year)
  • (f) = Final value (finishing year)
  • (r) = CAGR
  • (n) = number of periods (years)

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