Investing in cybersecurity is always a good idea. Throwing money at security threats without a game plan—not so much. While your clients’ security teams are adept at estimating and identifying potential threats, they may be turning to you to accurately assess business risk to help them make a solid case for security funding. Here are four ways to help them avoid wasting money on cybersecurity.
Common mistakes when planning cybersecurity budgets
A common mistake that organizations make when investing in cybersecurity is building plans and budgets that address the latest cybersecurity trends. They may also take a page from other organizations’ security playbooks and adapt it to their own. As your clients’ trusted security advisor, remind them that their security needs are unique to their business. What may be a priority for one company may not have any value to them.
Poor planning is another common mistake that can lead to wasted investments. Help your clients evaluate their existing security stack and identify anything that is duplicative or redundant.
4 ways to avoid wasting money on cybersecurity
1) Take a top-down approach
Your clients’ leadership team determines their IT security budgets. Build a security budget based on their business needs using clear language that they can understand. Establish benchmarks to help evaluate your clients’ current IT security stacks, and make solid recommendations on additional tools to invest in.
2) Avoid “shiny object” syndrome
Cyber security should be a core component of your client’s business. Bring in your clients’ IT leaders early in the budget planning process and show them how cybersecurity is the foundation of their unique business strategy. Steer them away from the latest, “shiny object” —any trend or solution that has unproven business value.
3) Involve stakeholders in the security planning process
Keep in mind that your clients have other stakeholder groups besides IT that are responsible for applications, data and business-critical systems. For example, if your client has a number of digital transformation or market expansion initiatives planned for 2023, bring their product development teams into the planning process. If you’re planning to conduct ransomware training for your client’s employees, loop in someone from their People Ops team.
4) Implement a cyber threat assessment
Your clients’ security needs will continue to evolve as their businesses grow. A cyber threat assessment can help you better understand their current security posture and make smarter investment decisions. A Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment by FortiGuard Labs provides comprehensive insights into your clients’ security risks, productivity, utilization and performance.
Learn more about Fortinet’s Cyber Threat Assessment and get your sample report here.