Off-the-shelf network security solutions are sold as plug-and-play silver bullets that seduce clients with the promise of easy installation, effortless application, and trouble-free ongoing maintenance. Automated updates tick countless boxes in network managers' minds - allowing everyone to enjoy peaceful nights of sleep.
The reality of network security is, without question, very different to this.
It isn't that evil lurks around every corner - waiting to effortlessly evade the noble efforts of security applications. The reality is one of unrealised potential - incredibly sharp tools blunted by installations that ignore context, and apply broad principles to customised IT environments. Your IT environment.
The need for defensive network measures has progressed to the point where most organisations purchase and apply them begrudgingly. Considered to be obligatory protection without tangible benefits - severely lacking in quantifiable return on investment - they often represent fiscal black holes.
This opinion of network security solutions is completely understandable, but is based on an incomplete grasp of the scope of benefits that a professionally installed and maintained security solution can deliver.
The full potential of off-the-shelf solutions is rarely seen because they are generally applied by teams or individuals who aren't aware of the extents to which they can be stretched. Eye-watering IT staffing costs often result in these teams being thinly spread across several IT related disciplines - denying security the focus it requires. Network security services are also often avoided because of the incorrect perception that their ongoing costs are difficult to control and even harder to quantify.
The average SAP installation dedicates as much as 30% of the overall cost to services focused on optimising and fine-tuning each installation to the clients' requirements and environment. The average cost of network security optimisation, in contrast, averages around 10% relative to the security solution's price tag.
For this significantly smaller percentage, network security services push off-the-shelf solutions way beyond their basic functions. Even minor optimisation can see off-the-shelf solutions turned from simple firewalls into cost monitoring and saving platforms that allow businesses to actively shape the purpose and deployment of their networks.
Security services allow business to swap positions on the backs of their horses; from fateful passengers to goal-driven jockeys that are in control, and coax the very best out of their systems. Coupled with the never-ending quest for cost saving, the relentless increase in complexity and volume of network threats means that dedicated security services are undoubtedly as important as the solutions themselves.
Share
