The IT landscape is undergoing significant transformation with the expansion of technologies like SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and GenAI, which increase the complexity for organizations. This is exacerbated by the challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled cybersecurity professionals, which remains a critical gap given the need to enhance investigation capabilities. Concurrently, the rising number of security products add complexity and cost to their management. Organizations are moving away from standalone security solutions toward an integrated platform-based approach because they recognize the inefficiencies of siloed security measures.
An integrated, consolidated and coordinated platform provides the paramount advantage of better security outcomes. Consolidating multiple solutions into a unified platform effectively closes the security gaps that rise when deploying individual point products to address specific issues. This is crucial because modern cyberattacks exploit multiple vulnerabilities simultaneously, leveraging AI and machine learning opportunistically.
And there are additional benefits to consider. Existing approaches are creating unnecessary complexity, but platformization simplifies cybersecurity through holistically integrated capabilities and unlocks operational and procurement ROI.
We chose the Palo Alto Networks cybersecurity platform because we wanted to standardize upon one platform, one tool set, one methodology. The standardization was just a big piece of it and the ability to apply it across tens of thousands of devices.
– Palo Alto Networks Customer
Economic Benefits Are a Prerequisite for Any Cybersecurity Solution and Platformization Is No Exception
Platformization provides significant economic benefits in three key areas, compared to using disparate point products:
1. Reduced effort in selecting and purchasing cybersecurity tools.
2. Decreased overall procurement process duration.
3. Lower total product cost of ownership.
Moreover, the integration capabilities of a security platform offer substantial advantages in critical transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A). For instance, integrating a network security platform with an Enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) provider enables IT infrastructure teams to efficiently implement IAM and User-ID related security controls within security policies. Based on various customer scenarios, our internal assessments indicate that organizations can achieve substantial economic benefits by leveraging these three procurement advantages.
Platformization – Unlocking Operational and Economic ROI
To better understand the effectiveness of the cybersecurity platforms by Palo Alto Networks, IDC conducted interviews with several organizations that utilize these platforms. The study highlighted notable enhancements in the organizations' abilities to detect, assess and respond to security threats, which translated into improved business performance, reduced time commitments from security and IT staff, and lower security-related costs. Feedback from security, IT managers and executives further emphasized the broad-ranging benefits, including significant procurement advantages, underscoring the value and efficiency gains delivered by integrated cybersecurity platforms by Palo Alto Networks. In the study, IDC projected significant average annual benefits of $22,300 per 100 users or $7.33 million per organization. There were key benefits identified:
- Risk Mitigation and Business Productivity – Organizations have fortified their security environments, leading to improved business efficiency. This enhancement has directly boosted net revenue and employee productivity, with gains averaging $16,200 per 100 users annually.
- IT Staff Productivity – With reduced routine demands on security and infrastructure teams, IT staff can prioritize more strategic initiatives. This shift has resulted in average productivity savings of $5,400 per 100 users per year.
- IT Infrastructure Cost Reductions – By consolidating various security functionalities onto a single platform, organizations have streamlined operations and reduced expenses, achieving savings of $700 per 100 users annually.
Adopting a platform approach becomes crucial to streamline procurement processes and bolster efficiency. According to IDC's analysis, participants can anticipate substantial benefits including higher net revenue, increased productivity, staff efficiencies and cost savings. Over a three-year span, these benefits are estimated to a discounted average of $52,500 per 100 users ($17.31 million per organization) after considering investment costs. With an average ROI of 203% over three years and a breakeven point within six months, investing in cybersecurity platforms promises substantial returns.
Download the IDC report to see and unlock the economic benefits of cybersecurity platforms by Palo Alto Networks.
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