How much is your business spending on information/computer/communications security? Odds are it's more than last year, maybe lots more, and not just because of inflation.Earlier this year, AMI-Partners forecast a whopping 19% growth in your security spending for 2007.

Which of course will probably be matched by a more (maybe lots more) than 19% increase in the number of companies and consultants trying to grab their share of your share of the SMB security market.

In other words, you're the target -- not just of the big share of the world's spam that end up in SMB mail queues but also of a big share of the world's security sales force, marketing muscle, advertising campaigns.

How do you know what to buy, who to listen to, how much to spend?

One of the best expenditures you can make is on the right person or persons to manage your security needs and issues. I'd argue, in fact, that this is the key security spending decision you face.

While most SMBs have long-since committed to IT staffs more robust than "the computer guy" of a few years ago, and "the network guy" of more recent vintage, too few have bitten the budget bullet, designating and funding a dedicated IT security employee or, if necessary, department.

Those days are past, and are receding fast.

The 24/7/365 threat environment your business faces -- not to mention the expanding compliance and regulatory environments that carry enormous security and IT implications -- is not going to grow simpler.

The sooner you commit to dedicated, expert IT security staffing the more secure -- or least less insecure -- your business is going to be.

Make that personnel investment before you spend another dollar -- or tens or hundreds of thousands of them -- on security software, hardware, services and you'll also be likelier to be spending those subsequent security bucks better and smarter.