Prosper in the cyber economy

The disparity is striking. Over the next four years, the costs associated with cybercrime—$10.5 trillion annually by 2025—are estimated to exceed worldwide cybersecurity spending by 40 times.

The cybercriminals are winning in the cyber economy. They are seizing on the expansion of organizations’ overall attack surfaces and increased vulnerabilities introduced by society’s reliance on connected services. It’s time for security leaders to flip the equation—not by matching dollars lost with increased spending, but by changing how they think about cybersecurity.

It’s time for security leaders to flip the cybercrime equation—not by matching dollars lost with increased spending, but by changing how they think about cybersecurity.

In today’s digital economy, security can become the common thread that binds the organization’s business and technology strategies, enabling successful business transformation, growth, and competitiveness. But this approach requires organizations to shift their focus. Instead of emphasizing ad hoc risk remediation and threat mitigation, they need to make security central to the business, striving for a mature security posture that fosters cyber resilience.

Cybersecurity strategies must evolve to enable business transformation and revenue growth

To better understand whether enterprises are making this change, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) partnered with Oxford Economics to interview more than 2,300 business, operations, technology, cyber risk, and cybersecurity executives across 18 industries and 25 countries. This research presents one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of insights from leaders responsible for driving their organizations’ IT and information security (IS) agendas.

Security boosts business performance and transformation

Organizations are facing multiple challenges—ranging from the security labor force shortage to expanding cyberattack surfaces to operational complexities to unknown risks. But adept leaders sense opportunity if they invest in cybersecurity as a core strategic capability. In fact, 66% of respondents view cybersecurity primarily as a revenue enabler.

66% of respondents view cybersecurity primarily as a revenue enabler.

To explore the business benefits of this evolving approach to cybersecurity, we assessed respondent organizations’ security maturity in five areas: cyber and risk strategy, foundational capabilities, security operating models, business integration, and ecosystem coordination. Respondents fell into four stages of maturity with stark differences between the least and more mature groups—distinctions that reveal themselves in the ultimate business outcomes. For instance, the more mature organizations report a 43% higher average revenue growth rate than the least mature.

Organizations with the more mature security approach and capabilities report a 43% higher revenue growth rate than those who are the least mature.

Cyber risk management is an often-overlooked way to improve operational efficiency and financial performance. But if an organization can quantify the financial impact of risks, it can gain efficiencies, mitigate consequences, and avoid the loss of revenue, significantly improving its bottom line.

Download the full report and explore how organizations can better prioritize security investments when viewing security outcomes as business outcomes. An action guide details how you can position security as a catalyst for business transformation.