Whitepaper

How to Manage IT Security Investments by Leveraging TBM

What you will learn from this whitepaper

This whitepaper shows how to bring full transparency, control, and measurability to  security investments using TBM. It explains how clear service definitions, complete TCO insights, and effective chargeback/showback models drive accountability, smarter prioritization, and optimized protection levels.

The result: security evolves from an opaque cost center into a strategically managed business enabler.

Download now

Key Takeaways

  • Create a Baseline with TBM: Applying Technology Business Management (TBM) to security spending establishes a solid baseline, allowing CIOs to know their security expenditures and how they evolve over time. This baseline supports informed discussions and decisions on security investments.

  • Define and Categorize Security Services: It is critical to define security services or solutions clearly rather than categorizing essential security spending as general overhead. This distinction enables better comparison, assessment of adequacy, and insight into the relevance of each security investment.

  • Identify Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Understanding the full TCO, including run and change costs and the share attributable to security, provides a clear view of which solutions drive security costs. This insight supports optimizing the security investment portfolio.

  • Use Chargeback/Showback Strategies: Implementing these strategies raises awareness and fosters accountability for security costs across the broader business. It encourages cost-conscious behavior and alignment of spending with actual consumption and business priorities.

  • Set Protection Level Agreements (PLAs): Defining PLAs enables IT and business stakeholders to measure cost versus value at the solution level. This helps determine the appropriate level of investment by balancing protection needs against budget and risk appetite.