SaaS functions are the darlings of the software program world. They permit work from anyplace, facilitate collaboration, and provide a cheap various to proudly owning the software program outright. On the similar time, the very options that make SaaS apps so embraced – entry from anyplace and collaboration – can be exploited by menace actors.
Not too long ago, Adaptive Defend commissioned a Complete Financial Influence™ (TEI) research performed by Forrester Consulting. The research demonstrates the impactful ROI achieved by a multimedia firm with an annual income of $10 billion. Whereas the quantitative ROI is critical, at 201%, the qualitative security ROI enhancements had been substantial.
Determine 1: Abstract of the TEI Examine |
On this article, we’ll study the research’s findings of how Adaptive Defend’s SaaS Safety Posture Administration (SSPM) platform impacted this international enterprise.
Learn the way a $10B media agency dramatically improved their security posture with SSPM
The Group’s Prime SaaS Challenges
In interviews with Forrester Consulting, the group being studied identified a number of key challenges that had been going through of their SaaS stack main as much as 2022.
- The group acknowledged that they lacked the information and talent to handle the functions. They did not perceive lots of the distinctive configurations or the impression that they had on security or compliance, which left them unaware of the dangers or mitigations that wanted to occur.
- The group had skilled a rise in SaaS adoption throughout IT, HR, gross sales, advertising, and different departments. They acknowledged that delicate property and priceless information had been transferring into SaaS functions and being unfold out in a approach that the security staff may not supervise all its comings and goings. As well as, they wanted to foster collaboration between the app homeowners, who management the functions, and security groups which are tasked with securing them.
- They had been additionally coping with elevated complexity brought on by their Merger & Acquisition (M&A) exercise. Every M&A elevated the variety of functions that they wanted to handle, a lot of which had been geographically-distributed tenants that might not be simply mixed with present tenants of the app.
The group started in search of an answer that might alleviate the SaaS misconfigurations that they had been coping with at scale. They wanted a platform that will combine with a number of enterprise functions, mitigate communication points between the app homeowners and security groups, and assist them preserve regulatory compliance of their SaaS stack.
They had been impressed with Adaptive Defend’s platform which not solely demonstrated the widest protection of supported functions but in addition discovered configuration points through the proof of idea part. In 2022, Adaptive Defend was chosen and deployed to safe the group’s stack.
Safety Advantages Adaptive Defend Launched to the Group
Forrester Consulting discovered that Adaptive Defend enabled the security staff to “acquire full management and elevated visibility of the security posture of all business-critical functions.”
Elevated SaaS Safety Posture
The security staff had handled six security points stemming from misconfigurations and low-security posture prior to now. Nonetheless, the group noticed posture enhancements starting with the POC. They “realized substantial enchancment in its security posture rating by means of visibility, remediation steerage, and ongoing monitoring” whereas experiencing a 30% enhance in posture.
Improved Collaboration
Forrester Consulting additionally discovered proof of elevated collaboration between security groups and app homeowners. They famous that enterprise homeowners are vital gamers in securing functions, as they’ve “the important thing to the dominion,” however they lacked the security experience wanted to safe their ecosystem. Deploying Adaptive Defend helped bridge that hole and foster collaboration between the app homeowners and security groups.
Many Different Safety Advantages
Whereas some security advantages had been quantifiable by the Forrester Consulting staff, they had been unable to position a greenback worth on all the pieces supplied by Adaptive Defend. For instance, Forrester Consulting discovered that the automated processes throughout the Adaptive Defend platform allowed security groups to concentrate on security administration quite than conduct interviews with app homeowners about their configurations. It additionally helped the group overcome challenges launched by the democratization of SaaS security. It helped the group obtain steady compliance, avoiding any interruptions to enterprise operations, and staying forward of any SaaS security tendencies.
Learn the way an SSPM can ship spectacular ROI and security advantages
Why Financial Advantages Indicated a 201% ROI
The Complete Financial Influence™ research measured the return on funding skilled by the group that was interviewed. To quantify these findings, Forrester Consulting first calculated the worth of an improved SaaS Safety posture. They factored within the variety of breaches that had taken place earlier than Adaptive Defend was deployed and projected the variety of breaches over three years. Their calculations included diminished productiveness, impacted enterprise and security customers, and wage information. Their three-year current worth estimate of an improved SaaS Safety posture was $1.49M.
Determine 2: Breakdown of ROI by Class |
Subsequent, Forrester Consulting reviewed operational effectivity achieved by means of the Adaptive Defend’s SSPM platform. They factored within the variety of functions being monitored, hourly wages, and the price of securing SaaS functions with and with out an automatic answer. Their estimated three-year current worth of financial savings was $397K.
Forrester Consulting then turned its consideration to compliance. They calculated enhancements in effectivity primarily based on the time it takes organizations to evaluate their functions and guarantee compliance with the completely different requirements. Their three-year current worth was value $260K.
Improved collaboration between security groups and enterprise app homeowners added one other 32K in financial savings over three years at current worth. Whereas the research famous different areas of ROI, it wasn’t capable of quantify them.
The full advantages over three years (at current worth) totaled $2.18M. The full licensing and deployment prices over these three years, at current worth, was $723,866. Payback was reached in lower than six months, and the ROI over the three-year timeframe was 201%.
A Push Towards SaaS Safety
At this time, organizations are rising the quantity and worth of information saved within the cloud. Fashionable SaaS apps comprise extremely delicate information, together with PII, mental property, and third-party confidential data. Defending this information is paramount, and the one sensible solution to safe it’s by means of a SaaS Safety Posture Administration (SSPM) instrument.
Organizations perceive the necessity to safe their SaaS stack. On the similar time, they should justify the price of including new security instruments. By demonstrating vital, measurable ROI, organizations can lastly make the case for implementing an SSPM answer.
For the complete TEI research, click on right here.
Be aware: This text has been expertly written by Maor Bin, CEO and co-founder of Adaptive Defend.