SaaS functions are the darlings of the software program world. They allow work from wherever, facilitate collaboration, and provide an economical various to proudly owning the software program outright. On the identical time, the very options that make SaaS apps so embraced – entry from wherever and collaboration – may also be exploited by menace actors.

Not too long ago, Adaptive Protect commissioned a Complete Financial Impression™ (TEI) examine performed by Forrester Consulting. The examine 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 safety ROI enhancements had been substantial.

Determine 1: Abstract of the TEI Research

On this article, we’ll look at the examine’s findings of how Adaptive Protect’s SaaS Safety Posture Administration (SSPM) platform impacted this world enterprise.

Find out how a $10B media agency dramatically improved their safety 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.

1. The group acknowledged that they lacked the information and talent to handle the functions. They did not perceive most of the distinctive configurations or the affect that they had on safety or compliance, which left them unaware of the dangers or mitigations that wanted to occur.
2. The group had skilled a rise in SaaS adoption throughout IT, HR, gross sales, advertising, and different departments. They acknowledged that delicate belongings and helpful information had been transferring into SaaS functions and being unfold out in a method that the safety staff may not supervise all its comings and goings. As well as, they wanted to foster collaboration between the app house owners, who management the functions, and safety groups which can be tasked with securing them.
3. They had been additionally coping with elevated complexity attributable to their Merger & Acquisition (M&A) exercise. Every M&A elevated the variety of functions that they wanted to handle, lots of which had been geographically-distributed tenants that might not be simply mixed with current tenants of the app.

The group started on the lookout for an answer that might alleviate the SaaS misconfigurations that they had been coping with at scale. They wanted a platform that might combine with a number of enterprise functions, mitigate communication points between the app house owners and safety groups, and assist them preserve regulatory compliance of their SaaS stack.

They had been impressed with Adaptive Protect’s platform which not solely demonstrated the widest protection of supported functions but additionally discovered configuration points in the course of the proof of idea section. In 2022, Adaptive Protect was chosen and deployed to safe the group’s stack.

Safety Advantages Adaptive Protect Launched to the Group

Forrester Consulting discovered that Adaptive Protect enabled the safety staff to “achieve full management and elevated visibility of the safety posture of all business-critical functions.”

Elevated SaaS Safety Posture

The safety staff had handled six safety points stemming from misconfigurations and low-security posture previously. Nonetheless, the group noticed posture enhancements starting with the POC. They “realized substantial enchancment in its safety posture rating by means of visibility, remediation steering, and ongoing monitoring” whereas experiencing a 30% improve in posture.

Improved Collaboration

Forrester Consulting additionally discovered proof of elevated collaboration between safety groups and app house owners. They famous that enterprise house owners are vital gamers in securing functions, as they’ve “the important thing to the dominion,” however they lacked the safety experience wanted to safe their ecosystem. Deploying Adaptive Protect helped bridge that hole and foster collaboration between the app house owners and safety groups.

Many Different Safety Advantages

Whereas some safety advantages had been quantifiable by the Forrester Consulting staff, they had been unable to put a greenback worth on the whole lot supplied by Adaptive Protect. For instance, Forrester Consulting discovered that the automated processes inside the Adaptive Protect platform allowed safety groups to concentrate on safety administration quite than conduct interviews with app house owners about their configurations. It additionally helped the group overcome challenges launched by the democratization of SaaS safety. It helped the group obtain steady compliance, avoiding any interruptions to enterprise operations, and staying forward of any SaaS safety tendencies.

Learn how an SSPM can ship spectacular ROI and safety advantages

Why Financial Advantages Indicated a 201% ROI

The Complete Financial Impression™ examine 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 Protect was deployed and projected the variety of breaches over three years. Their calculations included diminished productiveness, impacted enterprise and safety 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 Protect’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 resolution. Their estimated three-year current worth of financial savings was $397K.

Forrester Consulting then turned its consideration to compliance. They calculated enhancements in effectivity based mostly on the time it takes organizations to evaluate their functions and guarantee compliance with the totally different requirements. Their three-year current worth was price $260K.

Improved collaboration between safety groups and enterprise app house owners added one other 32K in financial savings over three years at current worth. Whereas the examine famous different areas of ROI, it wasn’t capable of quantify them.

The whole advantages over three years (at current worth) totaled $2.18M. The whole 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

As we speak, organizations are rising the amount and worth of knowledge saved within the cloud. Fashionable SaaS apps include extremely delicate information, together with PII, mental property, and third-party confidential data. Defending this information is paramount, and the one life like method 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 identical time, they should justify the price of including new safety instruments. By demonstrating important, measurable ROI, organizations can lastly make the case for implementing an SSPM resolution.

For the total TEI examine, click on right here.

Observe: This text has been expertly written by Maor Bin, CEO and co-founder of Adaptive Protect.