Azure network security helps reduce cost and risk according to Forrester TEI study

As organizations move their computing from on-premises to the cloud, they realize that leveraging cloud-native security tools can provide additional cost savings and business benefits to their security infrastructure. Microsoft Azure network security offers a suite of cloud-native security tools to protect Azure workloads while automating network management, implementing developer security operations (DevSecOps) practices, and reducing the risk of a material security breach.

We are excited to share that 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 study shows that Azure network security delivers:

• Increased speed of delivering development projects by one month or 67 percent.
  
• Reduced total cost of on-premises security tools by 25 percent.
  
• Reduced risk of a security breach of 30 percent.
  
• Improved efficiency of network-related IT work by 73 percent.
  

The study concluded that the composite organization 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 organizations 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.

“We’re seeing tremendous speed spinning stuff up in cloud. We have given the application team more reach, where in our on-premises data centers, it was difficult to get access to security appliances with different teams doing different workstreams. With Azure, we’re able to use Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates.”–Chief solutions architect, technology.

Cost savings

Organizations reduced their total cost of ownership of on-premises security tools by 25 percent when protecting 20 percent 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.

“We were able to more cost-effectively use Azure security to manage our workloads in the cloud and reduced the footprint of additional agents or services for our cloud, which is clearly different than on-premises data centers.”–Chief solutions architect, technology.

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.

“There is no doubt Azure network security improved our security posture. I feel far more comfortable and sleep much better at night having our Azure estate protected by Azure network security as opposed to the combination of what we had on-premises.”–Vice President of applications and infrastructure, education.

Efficiency gains

Azure network security improved the efficiency of IT teams delivering network-related work. It reduced firewall management by 80 percent, security policy management by 15 percent, and security audit process by 96 percent.

“Before Azure network security, we had an outage where we were managing calls with three vendors: three different IT teams, three systems’ support, three sets of account managers. There was a lot of finger-pointing and, in the end, the issue was never even resolved. Now, everything is resolved in a matter of hours.”–Chief solutions architect, technology.

Read the study and get started today

Read the full Forrester TEI study for Azure network security website or download the full PDF study.

To learn more about Azure network security portfolio of cloud-native services, visit the Azure network security website.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

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