Overcoming Vendor Sprawl to Cut Costs and Improve Security

The modern workplace depends on an ever-expanding digital jigsaw of solutions necessary to facilitate requirements such as remote work, collaboration, and even cloud computing.

However, as organisations become increasingly reliant on digital infrastructure, this expands their digital attack surface and increases their chances of being vulnerable to cyber-attacks if not appropriately managed.

In response to this ever-increasing risk, organisations are realising that cybersecurity is no longer a nice to have. It is a must-have for their solvency and success and should be viewed as an essential cost of doing business in the digital world.

But, when it comes to understanding what tools are needed to keep their organisations safe, many IT and security teams struggle to be strategic with their purchases and deployments.

Over the last few years, the cybersecurity market has exploded with 'must have' tools. But, from an end-user perspective, this often results in confusion, causing them to either underpurchase, which leaves dangerous gaps in their infrastructure, or overpurchase, which evaporates budgets and resources and dramatically increases the number of supply chain vendors needing to be managed.

So, how can these issues be avoided?

The Explosion of the Security Market

Today, patch cycles are daily, firewalls have gone next generation, and any organisation depending on AV to protect their assets has already lost the battle.

Today, research shows that the average organisation needs to deploy hundreds of products to keep safe online. Still, these controls can run into the thousands when it comes to large enterprises and mission-critical businesses.

Cybersecurity products include email security gateways, managed detection and response, and zero-trust access to phishing simulation platforms. The list is starting to feel like it's endless.

But this means deciphering what products are needed to remain safe in the digital world is a struggle for many organisations, especially when the industry moves so fast. They are continually faced with clever marketing campaigns from savvy security vendors trying to sell their products and services into the latest buying trends.

Product marketing campaigns often feature security buzzwords, usually geared to induce fear in organisations and trick them into believing their solution is a cyber silver bullet. However, there are no silver bullets in cyber, so these campaigns create serious risks, often jeopardising organisations' security rather than improving it.

When organisations don't know what tools to adopt, it can result in an approach that is not strategic and cause vendor sprawl. Vendor sprawl occurs when organisations have too many supply chain vendors onboard, which can hinder security and cause inefficiencies. Tools can overlap and duplicate controls, or tools don't work together well, or in the worst cases, they work against each other.

This often leads to product overload for small internal security teams, where security exhausts cyber personnel and overstretches budgets and resources.

So, how can organisations overcome this challenge and make informed security purchases to protect their organisation while streamlining technology and budgets?

Bolstering Resilience and Reducing Sprawl with MSSPs

Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) can support these businesses by offering expertise and knowledge on the cyber security marketplace, helping organisations make the right choices.

MSSPs already have relationships with security vendors, so they understand precisely how security products work and the service they offer without being enticed by clever marketing promotions.

They can also run assessments on organisations to gain a deep understanding of their architecture and then make recommendations on the products they require to protect their organisation.

This can be followed up with recommendations on the best-of-breed vendors, where their services can be offered and managed on a subscription basis via the MSSP, so the organisation doesn't need to purchase the tools themselves. Instead, their requirements can be met via the MSSP and adjusted to the organisation's needs.

By doing this, organisations can streamline costs, free up internal resources, and significantly reduce the risk of purchasing inappropriate or unnecessary security tools.

This helps to eliminate the risks of vendor sprawl, reduces costly security overheads and significantly heightens security.

Organisations can be left confident in the knowledge that their defences are being managed by experts in the cyber domain, who possess all the necessary skills and resources to protect them in today's dynamic digital landscape.