Security as a Business Enabler: How CISOs Can Secure the Budget They Need

Cybersecurity has long been seen as a cost center—a necessary expense to avoid breaches, fines, and downtime. However, the industry is evolving, and leading organizations are shifting perspectives. According to Splunk’s CISO Report, 64% of boards believe that presenting security as a business enabler is the most effective way to secure a higher budget.

However, there’s a significant disconnect between how CISOs and boards view security’s role. While 52% of boards believe CISOs focus on business enablement, only 34% of CISOs agree. Security leaders must communicate their impact in a way that resonates with executives and board members.

This blog post explores how CISOs can reposition cybersecurity as a strategic business enabler, secure executive buy-in, and drive measurable business value.

How Security Drives Business Value

A strong security culture is essential to mitigating the cybersecurity risks that pose the greatest threats to business operations. Effective cybersecurity begins with addressing employee-driven operational threats, such as system intrusions, web app attacks, social engineering, and malicious insiders. These threats lead to two primary business risks: substantive disruption to operations and sensitive data breaches.

These risks have direct business implications, affecting revenue, costs, reputation, compliance, and safety. Organizations must recognize that cybersecurity is not just about technology but also about human behavior and cultural resilience.

By focusing on security awareness and behavior-driven programs, businesses can reduce the likelihood of operational disruptions and data breaches, ultimately safeguarding critical business functions. Keepnet’s approach to human risk management equips CISOs with tools to address these threats proactively, demonstrating clear business value through outcome-driven security culture initiatives.

To illustrate this, consider the Phishing Susceptibility chart below, which highlights the impact of behavior-driven security awareness initiatives. The chart demonstrates business value by showcasing a 40% reduction in avoidable phishing incident remediation costs, saving $75,000. The chart showcases how key interventions, such as IT policy updates and training for new hires, improve phishing reporting rates while reducing click rates and repeat offenders.

Understanding these metrics is important in demonstrating how security investments translate into business value. Learn more about security behavior and culture metrics.

This aligns with the Protection Level Agreement (PLA) concept—a framework that connects cybersecurity benefits to business outcomes.

Proving Cybersecurity’s Business Value to Secure Budget

To secure the budget for effective cybersecurity programs, CISOs must not only focus on securing the necessary funds but also demonstrate how these investments contribute to the business value zone—where security drives operational and strategic benefits.

Operational Benefits

Effective cybersecurity isn’t just about protection—it directly supports business operations by reducing financial risks, improving productivity, and safeguarding revenue.

• Improved enterprise risk posture – Strong security measures prevent costly incidents and regulatory penalties.
• Reduced avoidable costs—Security breaches can lead to expenses such as forensic investigations, legal fees, and incident response; proactive investment mitigates these risks.
• Reduced unwanted media attention – Avoiding security incidents protects the company’s brand and reputation.
• Improved employee productivity – Secure, frictionless systems help employees work efficiently without unnecessary disruptions.
• Improved revenue stream resiliency – Customers and partners trust businesses with robust security, ensuring sustained revenue.
• Client-centered targets safeguarded – Protecting sensitive customer data strengthens long-term relationships and customer confidence.

Strategic Business Benefits

Cybersecurity investments do more than mitigate risks—they directly contribute to financial stability, business growth, and long-term strategic success.

• Income forecast achieved – Security investments help maintain customer confidence, reducing churn and ensuring predictable revenue.
• Cost forecast achieved – Avoiding breaches and compliance violations prevents unexpected financial losses.
• Strategic goals met – Secure organizations are better positioned for market expansion, innovation, and digital transformation.

How Keepnet Empowers CISOs to Prove Business Value

Keepnet Human Risk Management empowers CISOs to demonstrate security behavior and culture program investments with outcome-driven metrics that showcase business value. By leveraging real-time data and structured frameworks, security leaders can make informed decisions and effectively communicate the impact of their initiatives.

• Outcome-driven metrics: Keepnet provides quantifiable data that links security investments to tangible improvements in risk reduction, employee engagement, and organizational resilience.
• Current operational delivery: Our platform helps CISOs measure the effectiveness of ongoing security awareness training, phishing simulations, and awareness initiatives, ensuring alignment with business goals.
• Protection-Level Agreement (PLA): Keepnet incorporates PLA as a framework that serves as both a benchmark and a target on which all C-level executives agree. This ensures security awareness success while directly connecting cybersecurity performance to business outcomes.
• Cybersecurity benefits: Organizations using Keepnet experience up to a 90% reduction in high-risk security behavior, improved threat response times, and enhanced reporting rates, strengthening their overall security posture. This metric is a key tool that CISOs use to demonstrate security improvements to the board, showcasing how investments in security behavior and culture programs lead to tangible business outcomes.
• Business benefits: CISOs leverage Keepnet’s outcome-driven metrics to visually demonstrate to the board how security investments drive financial savings, operational efficiency, and business resilience, reinforcing cybersecurity as a strategic enabler.

Keepnet equips CISOs with the insights needed to secure executive buy-in and demonstrate how security aligns with corporate success.

The Future of Security Leadership

CISOs and security leaders who successfully align cybersecurity with business objectives will have the greatest influence in boardrooms. It’s time to shift the narrative from security as an overhead cost to security as a business driver.

At Keepnet, we empower security leaders with the right data and insights to make this shift. We help them drive investment, improve resilience, and position security as a competitive advantage.