CISOs Are Often Used In Selling Application Security Tools, Study Finds

Hint to email copywriters selling application security services: Remember to highlight your chief information security officers (CISOs) — they can help you make the sale. 

Indeed, 84% of CISOs are frequently pulled into engagements to help their firms close B2B sales of their products, according to The Growing Impact of AppSec on Business, a study from Checkmarx.

And why wouldn’t they be? A stunning 96% of buyers want to know the products they’re buying are secure. Moreover, 80.5% say their prospects consider application security when making buying decisions, over half very often.  

The highest level is found in the banking/financial, the lowest in industrial/manufacturing—only 24.1% in the latter do so very often.  

Certainly, marketing copy can by providing transparency. Here’s how firms show prospects that they are meeting the expected security expectations: 

  • We measure our levels and report on them publicly — 42%
  • We measure our levels and provide them upon request — 44% 
  • We measure our levels but don’t share them outside the company/group — 8.5% 
  • We are not measuring our levels but hope to do so soon — 3% 
  • We are beginning to build an AppSec program — 2%
  • We have no plans of measuring our application security — 0.5%
  • Not sure—0%

In any event, CISOs have their work cut out for them. They are responsible for securing these percentages of revenue-generating applications:  

  • 100% — 4% 
  • 75% — 47% 
  • 50% — 26% 
  • 25% — 22% 
  • Do not run on applications — 3%

And the pressure is on: 53% say application security is a bigger priority for their company’s CEOs or boards this year. Still, a surprising 32% assign it a lower priority.  

But 73% of firms are providing increased funding. 

In addition to helping sales, CISOs are of course pulled in when their firm is choosing a security solution. The main factors are: 

  • Cost of solution — 30% 
  • If the solution will measurable reduce risk — 20% 
  • Whether our developers will use/adopt the solution — 20% 
  • How well it fits within our AppSec initiatives — 20% 
  • How much does it increase/decrease time to delivery/deployment — 0%
  • All of the above — 20% 
  • Not sure — 0% 

Global Surveyz Research surveyed a mix of 200 a mix of CISOs, CSOs, CIOs, Deputy CISOs, Deputy CSOs, and Deputy CIOs from companies in North America, W. Europe, APAC, and LATAM with an annual revenue of $750 million+. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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