CISOs need to shift cybersecurity from a cost center to a strategic asset. Three moves: operate with maximum efficiency, benchmark against peers to justify spending to the board, and turn security into a competitive advantage that drives revenue and market share.
Chapters
CISOs must improve the value proposition of cybersecurity to remain relevant. And there's really 3 things that we can do. First off is make sure that we are efficient and effective. And this is our normal bread and butter. For the most part, security is not a profit center, it's a cost center. So we have to be very thrifty in what we spend on and deliver the absolute most we can. So that's the first thing. But there are a couple of other things as well. Second, try and compare your organization to peer organization. Are they ahead? Are they more advanced? Are you more advanced? Right? That type of analysis you can bring to the C-suite, to the CEO and to the board. And you may be able to show that you're behind and you need more investment. You may be able to highlight how good your organization is because you're ahead, but there are stories there that other people, boards and other C-suite members who may not be security savvy, but they can understand those stories and that's powerful. And the third thing that you can do, and this is wild, right? But evaluate to see if security can give the organization non-traditional competitiveness because security is valuable. It's valuable with not only vendors and partners, but also customers., and we're seeing in the industry how some companies can turn that into generating revenue, grabbing greater market share, increasing margin and average selling prices, or be part of a good, better, best marketing strategy. So there's lots of opportunities, and that is the golden ticket. If cybersecurity can morph itself to be able to deliver those types of enterprise Benefits? We win.
