Cybersecurity - Investment vs. Cost Center

Nobody wants to end up on the news and in court like British Airways and Marriott International. But it is a challenge to get C-Suite deciders to see cybersecurity as an investment rather than merely another cost center applying drag to the bottom line. How do you convince C-Level decision-makers, even in SMBs, that cybersecurity isn’t just an internal-facing decision anymore? And even more importantly, how do you get them to support investments as part of your overall strategic direction rather than grudgingly allocating a minimal budget?

Qualifier/Disqualifier

A recent Kaspersky study stated that North American businesses reported pressure from investors and clients as one of the key factors driving increased cybersecurity spending. In the B2B space, companies are increasingly demanding assurances that the organizations they work with follow good cybersecurity practices. After all, you may be exchanging valuable or sensitive data. This is even more true if the products or services you provide require any sort of connection (even if it’s just in the payment system). In some cases, it can go as far as a prospective client Tiger Teaming you to make sure your network is secure. In a 2020 study by AT&T, 73% of organizations already viewed cybersecurity as a critical factor in business enablement.

Government and Public Sectors Certification Requirement

Another area where a strong cybersecurity program is becoming a qualifier is government, public sector and military sectors. New standards and certification programs are being launched regularly, like CMMC in the US, CyberSecure in Canada, and ENISA, NIS, and GDPR in the EU. If your business can’t provably meet these standards, then you’ll be eliminated from the running from a broad range of contracts. Conversely, if you attain security accreditation, you’ll be pre-qualified for many of these opportunities.

Breaches are Now an Unacceptable Business Risk

According to figures released by IBM and the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach was $3.92 million, up by 1.5% since 2018. And for 2020, cybercriminals are attacking more aggressively than ever to the tune of more than 445 million attacks last year alone. The study also found that the data breach life cycle, basically the time to recover from a breach, is 279 days (and getting longer). The study also found that having a cybersecurity plan in place that includes an incident response helped mitigate those risks. These figures really only focus on direct costs such as recovery costs, lost productivity and legal costs. They don’t include significant soft impacts like reputation loss with clients and partners. Presented in this light, cybersecurity saves cost and contributes to the bottom line.

A Strong Cybersecurity Program can be a Key Differentiator

As you’ve read above, cybersecurity isn’t just an obscure, background, IT sub-specialization that generates cost without contributing to the bottom line. In 2021, it will increasingly be seen as a calling card. A sign that your organization takes quality seriously. Your security program and your ability to communicate about it will be key differentiators and sometimes even the deciding factor in winning new clients. But before that happens, you need to get the C-Suite onside. You need to demonstrate the value of cybersecurity, not just the need for it. Make sure you stay oriented on the three key factors - Platform (which security tools you use), People (making sure they have security awareness training), and Process (underpinning everything with strong security practices and procedures)”. And always focus on the value cybersecurity contributes to business growth.

Find Out How Our Monitored Detection and Response (MDR) Service can Protect Your Network

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