The Interplay of Trust and Cybersecurity in Business Strategy

The formation of client trust through implementing robust cybersecurity capabilities is of paramount importance, having direct impact on deal-making and revenue generation within organizations across various sectors.

Executive Insights:

1. Trust and security have transitioned from being seen as standard IT functions to vital business operations, requiring a business-centric approach for effective utilisation.
2. A company-wide alignment towards strategic business objectives can significantly enhance value and revenue, with every role playing a pivotal part in this model.
3. Robust security practices serve as a testament of trust to customers, indicating a strong correlation between trust and significant business outcomes such as revenue generation and deal-making
4. A shift in perspective from viewing security as solely an IT function to seeing it as a value generator can greatly increase overall business valuation and protect against exit discounting.
5. Trust is an underutilised go-to-market strategy, contributing directly to revenue growth while simultaneously expanding the company's total addressable market.
6. Security operations must be reoriented to be seen as integral parts of operational processes, directly influencing business areas such as sales, customer acquisition, and deal valuations.
7. The increasing contribution of IT and security roles to revenue generation necessitates a shift in mindset - all leaders within the company are primarily revenue leaders, actively focusing on value generation.

In 2023, businesses worldwide must grapple with the ever-increasing complexity of a critical business element: cybersecurity. The stark reality is that every business problem that demands a cybersecurity solution is actually a business problem masquerading as an IT concern. To tackle these challenges effectively, cybersecurity leaders should lead with the ‘'businessperson' mindset, one that prioritises communicating value in revenue and market terms rather than solely communicating cybersecurity and risk outcomes.

Long gone are the days where functional roles within the company remained isolated in their silos; instead, today's businesses need all roles — even roles that have historically been seen as “back-end operations — to align towards the grand goal of achieving business objectives. The concept that bridges these disparate elements is Trust — a pivotal factor in customer relationships, consistently impacting revenue and deal-making.

Trust speaks to customers in a language they understand, a currency more potent than sales pitches, and presenting evidence of robust security and safety practices serves as its ultimate reservoir.  The most strategic organisations recognize how Trust drives value and aligns all stakeholders and have already made the shift from an IT-centric view of cybersecurity to a broader strategic frame that measures effectiveness in go-to-market terms.

Trust Product Practices

This shift paves the way for maximised value generation and aligns to market conditions where a clear return on Trust is worth its weight in gold. In this era of transparency and accountability, an appreciable lack of trust or deficient security measures can negatively impact a company's position during equity valuation (especially in exit conversations). Savvy companies that invest in a Trust product practice can effectively protect themselves against exit discounting. Viewing trust-related elements such as security as not just protective measures but dynamic revenue-driving operations can translate into significant returns on investment upon exit.

Strategy alters with perspectives—when you start viewing Trust not as an intangible and immeasurable concept, but something capable of being leveraged as a value-gen strategy, you invite it into the purview of the C-Suite. One starts to see their organisation as a unified whole that strives not just for survival but growth—integrating Trust into every upside process, program, and initiative along the way. Consequently, one can reframe Trust as an active contributor to revenue growth as well as defence.

Businesses should evaluate if Trust forms an integral part of their revenue model using a 'Trust Scorecard'— the insights gleaned can be transformative. The perception of security operations also needs a significant paradigm shift. They're not separate, back-end processes—they're vital elements directly influencing deal-making, customer acquisition, and overall valuation.

Businesses focusing on trust access larger markets and penetrate broader sectors, increasing their total addressable market and share of the market. Tied into the core of the businesses, trust is key to survival and growth. As such, roles in IT and security are evolving from being purely functional to actively contributing to revenue. This evolution calls for a shift within organisations—a declaration that every leader within the company is primarily a revenue leader.

Understanding Cybersecurity Like a Business

Moving forward implies understanding cybersecurity like a business – run with a clear focus on value generation rather than just 'doing' cybersecurity tasks. Security and compliance procedures can provide the springboard to access new markets and reduce deal time significantly—an effect so evident that it demands recognition. It is critical for the evolution of the practice that IT and Cybersecurity leaders take credit for their direct and indirect contributions to revenue and be able to express that value quantitatively.

The value created or costs saved should be visibly and publicly communicated, pulling them into the limelight from the backdrop against which they usually operate. These Trust stories should be integrated into and help drive the larger value narrative—because today, security is no longer an IT problem—it's a business solution.

Trust Product Practice Scorecard

Scoring Reference: Pivoting to Trust - The Road from Service to Product