Failure to understand what drives customer demand in the cybersecurity market can result in a quick trip to bankruptcy court or a forced sale of a company. For this reason, product developers, service providers, and other types of vendors (e.g. resellers, systems developers, federal or state contractors, etc.) need to understand what drives current and future customer demands and requirements for technologies, products, and services. Once the relevant market factors are identified, companies can develop strategies for meeting current and future demands for products and services — figuring out what customers want to buy and then providing it at a profit.

One of the most commonly used sets of market factors is referred to as PEST. The four factors in this set are:

Political-Legal factors (e.g. laws & regulations — consider both current and proposed, cybercrime, cyber terrorism)

Economic factors (e.g. fines for non-compliance with laws or regulations, availability of trained workforce, profitability of purchasers, availability of venture capital or credit for business startups)

Socio-cultural factors (privacy concerns, pervasiveness of computers and digital devices, digital divide, “hacker” culture)

Technological factors (product lifecycles, cloud computing, Internet of Things, etc.)

In this activity, you will explore the 4 PEST factors. Look for information that explains why a company must identify and assess the impact these factors have or will have on the demand for IT security solutions (products or services). (Hint: GDPR is having a significant impact on two factors — political-legal and economic — for companies that do business in Europe.

Present your findings in a 3 to 5 paragraph briefing paper. Your audience is a group of technical and non technical managers who are attending a monthly business round table sponsored by Nofsinger Consulting Services.