Mitigating cyber risk with a cybersecurity budget and an ROI
With companies falling prey to cybercriminals daily, you’d think that convincing management to approve your data security budget would be easy. The trick is to make them think so too.
Realistically speaking, no matter how pressing the need for online security and cloud storage services may be, you’ll still need to demonstrate ROI before you can get your budget approved.
Here’s how to go about obtaining the funds you need by demonstrating the value of digital security solutions against the cost of a potential attack.
how ROI works in a cybersecurity context
Simply put, ROI (return on investment) is a way of measuring how much money you’ll make by spending a certain amount on new equipment, a marketing campaign, or expanding your team.
But when it comes to cybersecurity, it’s not how much you’re making, but how much you’re saving in the event of a potential cyberattack.
To demonstrate the return on investment that your organisation could realise from spending more on cybersecurity, you’ll need to know a few key figures.
the estimated cost of implementing a cybersecurity system
Estimated costs will include any hardware you need to buy or replace as well as the cost of software, purchases and subscriptions for on-demand services like secure cloud storage.
These amounts can easily be estimated by obtaining quotes from reputable service providers based on the size of your company, its IT set up and other important factors that the provider will ask you about.
the estimated cost of fixing the problem
You’ll need to try and quantify these in two scenarios: the costs incurred without cybersecurity in place versus the lower cost of solving the issue with the added advantages of mitigation provided by a solid cybersecurity setup.
The tricky part of the calculation is estimating how much your organisation could lose in the event of a cyberattack.
This amount will vary depending on the type of attack, how soon it’s detected, and the value of the compromised data which is not easy to quantify.
Some cost factors to consider include:
- Lost business due to downtime
- Legal costs
- The major expense of paying a ransom
- Reputational damage
- The cost of stolen intellectual property
how to pitch the ROI of cybersecurity to the boss
Put simply, the percentage ROI can be ‘theoretically’ calculated as follows:
% ROI = (annual cost of risk without cybersecurity – annual cost of risk with cybersecurity) / cost of mitigation x 100
- Presenting management with an exact estimate may be an effective way to persuade them to approve your budget.
- This approach is better than simply highlighting the potential for cyberattacks which could be seen as scare tactics – no matter how valid these risks may be.
With your budget in hand, you’ll be in a strong position to motivate for top level cybersecurity services, which must include secure cloud storage. However, you need to consider that there is no single or simple solution for any security strategy which will require a holistic overview with multiple layers of control built in.
keep your company’s data safe with secure cloud storage
For more information that will help you choose the best backup storage package for your business take a look at our range of cloud storage packages today.