The Rising Need for Security Vendor Consolidation

A significant number of businesses intend to do security vendor consolidation in 2022 and beyond. The lack of integration of a diversified security stack and operational inefficiencies are major concerns for security leaders. They are reducing the number of security vendors they work with as a result.

Organizations won’t experience greater security success with more tools. Only 36% of companies say they are very confident that controls are functioning as intended, despite the fact that the average number of security tools used by businesses has increased by 19% over the past two years, from 64 to 76 applications, according to the Panaseer 2022 Security Leaders Peer Report. In addition, 82% of respondents claim that security incidents that circumvented their existing tools caught them off guard.

There has been an increase in businesses seeking vendor consolidation as a result of the landscape becoming more app-heavy. Due to issues with solution sprawl, vendor consolidation makes sense for many businesses, from SMBs to big corporations.

Even though many security vendors still provide a well-known range of services and products, they often lag behind when it comes to emerging threats like edge-driven or cloud-based attacks. Specialty vendors have appeared to help address these problems. These suppliers provide solutions that are specifically tailored to deal with a single problem rather than a variety of risks.

Also Read: Strengthening Enterprise Cybersecurity Readiness throughout the Supply Chain

These solutions, which are layered on top of current security tools, can help businesses plug important security gaps but can raise the complexity of security environments by introducing a new application for IT teams to manage and monitor.

The Need for Vendor Consolidation 

Consolidating security vendors has various advantages for enterprises, including:

Reduced Complexity

The lesser the number of vendors, the lower the complexity is a result of fewer vendors. Consolidation enables businesses to use fifteen, ten, or even fewer vendors, thereby cutting down on the number of application switches needed and the amount of management necessary for IT teams to ensure security products are efficiently exchanging information.

Reduced complexity also aids in removing any blind spots that could develop as a result of tool overlap or failure, which could leave gaps for intruders.

Enhanced Risk Management

Through vendor consolidation, businesses can strengthen their risk management posture. There is less likelihood of misunderstanding or confusion when solutions are provided as a part of the same ecosystem, and it is also simpler for businesses to add or remove tools as needed. Businesses must identify security service providers who can provide this kind of reliable and secure ecosystem. This entails examining the current capabilities of potential vendors, how well they meet current security requirements, and where the provider wants to make improvements going forward.

Cost Reduction

Cost reduction can be a factor in vendor consolidation, even though it shouldn’t be the top priority. If properly implemented, this strategy can help businesses control costs by providing greater visibility into current budgets and areas where costs can be optimized by removing redundant tools or investing in new solutions that fill in important gaps.

Also Read: Strategies to Develop and Implement More Secure Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

Better Availability of IT

Companies will also be able to increase the availability of IT teams by choosing consolidation. Teams have more time to work on new technology initiatives that can help increase business efficiency with fewer tools to monitor and manage. In other words, by consolidating security vendors, IT teams can focus on bringing about real change rather than just maintaining the status quo.

Maximizing the Benefits of Vendor Consolidation 

Agile security solutions and strong risk management are becoming more and more necessary. But with increasing sprawl, InfoSec situations get more complicated, endangering company networks and data.

Vendor consolidation can help businesses streamline security operations by establishing unified environments that maximize costs, decrease complexity, promote IT accessibility for other tasks, and strengthen overall risk management.