As organisations move their computing from on-premises to the cloud, they are beginning to realise that leveraging cloud-native security tools can provide additional cost savings and business benefits to their security infrastructure.
Forrester Consulting has just conducted a commissioned Total Economic Impact (TEI) study on behalf of Microsoft, which involved interviewing existing customers who have deployed Azure network security. This study also provides organizations with a framework for evaluating the financial impact on their organizations.
The Forrester study concluded that a composite organization experienced benefits of $2.23 million over three years versus costs of $840.3 thousand, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $1.39 million and a return on investment (ROI) of 165 percent. The survey pointed out that Azure network security reduced total cost of on-premises security tools by 25 per cent.
It delivered increased speed of delivering development projects by one month or 67 per cent and reduced risk of a security breach of 30 per cent. Further, it improved efficiency of network-related IT work by 73 per cent.
The study concluded that the composite organisation reduced their total cost of ownership related to security infrastructure, established DevSecOps processes, reduced their risk of material security breaches, and reduced the burden on IT to manage networks and upgrades, allowing these teams to focus on more strategic workstreams.
Productivity gains with Azure network security
Azure network security enabled organisations to implement infrastructure-as-code practices, incorporating security directly into application development workflows, speeding development, and time-to-market of applications. With the adoption of DevSecOps workflows, security moved to being an enabler of development speed rather than a gate.
Cost savings
Organisations reduced their total cost of ownership of on-premises security tools by 25 per cent when protecting 20 per cent of their organization’s total computing with Azure network security. Interviewees saved costs directly related to decommissioned on-premises security tools as well as time costs to maintain this infrastructure and from vendor management.
Risk reduction
Azure network security provides automated network security upgrades and improved visibility of the environment. This improves the overall security environment of Azure workloads and reduces the likelihood of experiencing external and internal costs associated with a breach.
Efficiency gains
Azure network security improved the efficiency of IT teams delivering network-related work. It reduced firewall management by 80 per cent, security policy management by 15 per cent, and security audit process by 96 per cent.
