IBM and Palo Alto Networks Find Platformization is Key to Reduce Cybersecurity Complexity

Global survey reveals 75% of surveyed organizations pursuing a consolidated approach to security agree better integration across security, hybrid cloud, AI and other technology platforms is crucial

ARMONK, N.Y. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- New global research from the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Institute for Business Value (IBV) and Palo Alto Networks® (NASDAQ:PANW), found that surveyed organizations are facing security complexity challenges as they juggle an average of 83 different security solutions from 29 vendors. It also shows 7 out of 10 surveyed companies with a high degree of security platformization report their cybersecurity investments have helped business outcomes such as operational efficiencies and revenue generation.

In the study, "Capturing the cybersecurity dividend: How security platforms generate business value," more than half (52%) of surveyed executives note fragmentation of security solutions is limiting their ability to deal with cyber threats, but 75% of organizations that have embraced security platformization agree that better integration across security, hybrid cloud, AI, and other technology platforms is crucial. The analysis suggests the trend of adding more solutions to combat evolving security threats is contributing to inefficiency – impacting both performance and the bottom line – while moving to a platformized security approach can help businesses achieve reduced response times and costs without sacrificing security efficacy.

Cybersecurity Complexity is a Daunting Reality

Increased digital interconnectedness expands attack surfaces and can create new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated and harder to defend against, while AI is being used by both defenders and attackers, creating a race in cybersecurity capabilities.

In an evolving threat landscape, surveyed executives estimate security fragmentation and complexity costs their organizations an average of 5% of their annual revenue. For a $20 billion annual revenue company, that's a $1 billion cost to the business in aggregate. Tally the costs of security incidents, lost productivity, failed digital transformations, stalled AI initiatives, loss of customer trust and reputational damage and the numbers add up.

"Organizations continue to be challenged with updating their security posture to address new threats, while simultaneously being pressed to reduce complexity and decrease spend," said Mark Hughes, Global Managing Partner for Cybersecurity Services, IBM. "Security executives need to enable innovation, protect assets and derive value from their cybersecurity investments to help their organizations thrive and further their business goals."

"We have seen the positive impacts of adopting a platformized approach to security, and the benefits it delivers to organizations. In today's AI-fueled world, strong partnerships are more essential than ever," said Karim Temsamani, President, Next Generation Security, Palo Alto Networks. "IBM and Palo Alto Networks are aligned on a common vision of creating better outcomes for our customers - whether in value, operational, or security…and platformization accomplishes all of them. This isn't just about improving fragmentation today, it's about enabling better outcomes for the future."

Key insights from surveyed business leaders:

• 52% of executives say complexity is the biggest impediment to their cybersecurity operations;
• 80% agree they face pressure to reduce the cost of security, and 41% say security fragmentation has driven up procurement costs;
• 4 out of 5 non-platform organizations say their security operations cannot effectively deal with the sheer quantity of threats and attacks;
• 80% of platformization adopters say they have full visibility into potential vulnerabilities and threats; and,
• For platformized organizations, mean time to identify (MTTI) and mean time to contain (MTTC) security incidents are shorter by an average of 72 and 84 days, respectively.

Enhancing Businesses with Platformization: Unleashing the Power of Digital Transformation

In today's world, the research finds effective security requires platformization. Consolidating multiple tools into a unified platform not only bolsters security posture but enables organizations to experience nearly 4 times better return on investment (ROI) from their cybersecurity investments, leading to revenue generation and increased operational efficiencies.

When it comes to AI, a platform approach can also enable an organization to better ingest and analyze data to deliver actionable insights. With 90% of surveyed executives expecting to scale, optimize, or innovate with AI within the next two years, integrating AI into their platforms can play a critical role in advancing their security preparedness. For example, accelerating adoption of agentic AI for security and tapping platformization for fewer investment cycles; or, using platformization to create the common governance needed to deliver the AI capabilities shaping the future.

By adopting a platformization approach, businesses can align technologies, drive innovation, and prioritize security as a core business requirement. Through IBM and Palo Alto Networks' strategic partnership, the companies are bringing together leading security platforms, AI, and transformation capabilities to help organizations confidently navigate their digital transformation journey, achieve their desired outcomes and drive substantial business value.

Tips for Platformization Success

• Choose partners that streamline your security mission and trim those that don't. Critically evaluate current and potential technology, services, and support partners, and make hard decisions about where to double down and when to part ways.
• Run your playbook. Stage incident response drills to assess where a unified platform can deliver the greatest impact. Take action to improve your incident response capabilities.
• Help your business get prepared to respond to threats by putting it to the test. Visit a cyber range to prepare business and technical teams to address the latest cyber threats through an immersive, organization-wide business-focused engagement. IBM and Palo Alto Networks now provide a joint Cyber Range experience in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where clients can leverage the facility to support continuous improvement, training, and change management as they transform their security operating models with platformization.

Additional Resources:

• To learn more about IBM's partnership with Palo Alto Networks, visit: https://www.ibm.com/consulting/palo-alto
• To learn more about Palo Alto Networks perspectives on platformization and the IBM IBV study, visit: http://paloaltonetworks.com/resources/research/ibm-study-platforms-deliver-value. To hear more, check out the company's Ignite on Tour events: https://register.paloaltonetworks.com/igniteontour.

Study Methodology

This IBM Institute of Business Value (IBV) research, conducted in collaboration with Oxford Economics and published in partnership with Palo Alto Networks, surveyed 1,000 executives across 21 industries and 18 countries from July through September 2024. The IBM IBV team then analyzed insights and data from respondents to facilitate the creation of a "platformization index," which measures the extent to which an organization has moved toward security platformization, then used that index to ascertain the relationship between security platformization and security and business outcomes.

The IBM IBV, IBM's thought leadership think tank, combines global research and performance data with expertise from industry thinkers and leading academics to deliver insights that make business leaders smarter. For more world-class thought leadership, visit: www.ibm.com/ibv.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit ibm.com for more information.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks is the global cybersecurity leader, committed to making each day safer than the one before with industry-leading, AI-powered solutions in network security, cloud security and security operations. Powered by Precision AI, our technologies deliver precise threat detection and swift response, minimizing false positives and enhancing security effectiveness. Our platformization approach integrates diverse security solutions into a unified, scalable platform, streamlining management and providing operational efficiencies with comprehensive protection. From defending network perimeters to safeguarding cloud environments and ensuring rapid incident response, Palo Alto Networks empowers businesses to achieve Zero Trust security and confidently embrace digital transformation in an ever-evolving threat landscape. This unwavering commitment to security and innovation makes us the cybersecurity partner of choice.

At Palo Alto Networks, we're committed to bringing together the very best people in service of our mission, so we're also proud to be the cybersecurity workplace of choice, recognized among Newsweek's Most Loved Workplaces (2021-2024), with a score of 100 on the Disability Equality Index (2024, 2023, 2022), and HRC Best Places for LGBTQ+ Equality (2022). For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.

Media Contacts:

Joel Rushing, IBM

[email protected]

Nicole Hockin, Palo Alto Networks

[email protected] 

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SOURCE IBM