Cybersecurity insights to help you build a successful company
Cybersecurity is more important than ever. The surge in Cybersecurity insights has reached historic heights as we continue to WFH and migrate to remote work models. Data breaches hit an all-time high in terms of breadth, depth, and complexity in 2021.
According to a joint analysis from IBM and the Ponemon Institute published in 2021, the typical data breach now costs over $5 million, up around $1 million from 2020.
So, how can cybersecurity experts build a profitable firm that offers a better, more secure product?
1. Consolidate current services into a single offering:
Cybersecurity is continuously developing, which is both good and dangerous. Some security solutions are keeping up with hackers, but there are just too many specialised products that address a specific problem.
The more software a company has to handle, the more difficult it is to maintain effective security. To prove this thesis, go no farther than the FBI’s 2020 Cyber Division report, which revealed a fourfold rise in cybersecurity breaches.
IT services should provide a reliable, all-in-one solution that can be handled by a small in-house staff or outsourced to a respected supplier as a natural convergence of these challenges.
2. Prioritize security to effectively allocate corporate resources:
It’s simple for businesses to grow nervous and overpay on security solutions that may or may not deliver the desired benefits. According to industry benchmarks, the typical cybersecurity budget is roughly 6% of a company’s yearly budget, therefore efficiently managing resources is crucial.
Stop and reflect before making any changes to your company model or proposing changes to other companies. Determine which data is the most valuable and which data is the most risky. Theft has serious effects, but spreading resources too thin exacerbates the problem. Prioritizing protection allows you to focus resources where they’ll be most effective.
Cybersecurity solutions must be tailored to your industry’s specific requirements and must be effective. Otherwise, you’ll wind up like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off, wandering around aimlessly.
3. Find investors that are interested in your business growth plans:
Venture capital companies are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to cybersecurity. While investment growth slowed in 2020, it accelerated in the first half of 2021, reaching a new high of $9 billion. Even in 2020, though, cybersecurity accounted for around 45 percent of overall early-stage funding.
Investors may need more persuasion to believe in a new cybersecurity solution, but the money is out there for entrepreneurs willing to put in the Cybersecurity insights effort.
Don’t rely on a scattershot approach to investing. Wait for investors that are interested in your market and existing business growth strategy. If you’re looking to develop in the American market, for example, seek for American financing. Find European financing if you’re starting in Europe.
Concentrating on a single market boosts your chances of success. From my experience, if you can win in one area, your firm will gain recognition in the more difficult worldwide market.
The one exception to this rule, in my opinion, is that American cybersecurity firms may seek money from Israeli investors. Israel and the United States have a long history of cooperation, and Israel is a technological and cybersecurity leader.
4. Take into account the unique variables in each nation that influence cybersecurity development:
This idea goes hand in hand with concentrating development efforts on a specific market. Where did your company get its start? To thrive, cybersecurity specialists must not only comprehend the sector as a whole, but also the specific demands of their country’s market.
Eastern European countries, for example, have quite different cybersecurity expectations and standards than Southeast Asian or North American countries.
Businesses who suffer a data breach in Eastern Europe face low financial implications. Companies may suffer a punishment and a short loss of customer trust, but these incidents are generally forgotten and no one remembers.
In the United States, however, data breaches result in significantly greater financial and reputational consequences. Because failing to secure customer data may result in significant financial damages, American businesses are significantly more likely to take use of services like risk insurance or more advanced cybersecurity solutions.
Risk insurance is especially appealing in economies such as the United States, where minimising financial losses is a key goal. According to current estimates, the worldwide cyber insurance industry will develop rapidly over the next five years, with the entire market size rising from roughly eight billion dollars in 2020 to slightly over 20 billion dollars in 2025.
As a result, explaining the value of a cybersecurity solution to clients in the United States is easy. After all, such insurance only protects against financial risks, not reputational problems, which are critical in the United States.
These distinctions underline the importance of understanding the Cybersecurity insights risks and repercussions that are unique to each country. This helps you to create a product that is both appealing and feasible, as well as a compelling marketing message.
Furthermore, when the firm expands outside its initial market, conduct regional research before pushing your product so that you can modify your presentation to that market.
5. Keep in mind that your cybersecurity team is a chess team, not a checkers team:
In chess, there are several pieces, each of which has a distinct purpose. Checkers uses interchangeable and generic pieces. Hiring a team of people with comparable skillsets (e.g., checkers pieces) is ineffective in my opinion since there will be no one to fill in knowledge gaps or cover blind spots.
The leader of your team, for example, should have a broad and deep understanding of the technology, terrain, and competitors. They do not, however, need to be able to market the goods in layman’s words.
You may pay someone with the talents and charm to convert complicated language into a compelling, intelligible marketing message. This is how you and your team “play chess.”
I propose first doing a comprehensive background check on each person’s previous job and professional reputation. This guarantees they have the industry clout to be a valuable addition to you.
Personally, I prefer to hand-pick people for various jobs, ensuring that they are well-suited to the post. One individual may be employed because they are a natural salesperson, while another may be brought to the team because they possess the necessary talents to be an excellent developer.
Remember that founders must be leaders:
These ideas are only useful to visionary and committed leaders. Even in the face of probable failure, anyone wishing to develop a successful business must not only pay close attention to market trends, but also have a deep source of passion, inspiration, and desire to draw upon.
You will be set up for success if you know your market better than the competitors, attract investors who trust in you, and carefully choose your staff.