McAfee, unveils online ROI calculator

MUMBAI, INDIA: McAfee, has announced a new online tool to help companies achieve 'stronger protection and greater compliance' while lowering costs. The new tool helps both mid-sized and enterprise businesses address the continual challenge of calculating return on security investments.

The McAfee ROI (return on investment) calculator, developed with Forrester Research Inc., helps organizations quantify the financial benefits of deploying McAfee solutions for endpoint security, email and Web Security, and network security.

The calculator uses Forrester's industry proven Total Economic Impact (TEI) methodology to estimate the total expected cash flow and return of using McAfee. Working with industry averages, the calculator can be customized to any size customer. 

The costs are based on auditable data such as full-time employee costs and not soft costs, cost of downtime, usually associated with these types of studies. On average, an enterprise with approximately 5,500 systems could see more than $1.3 million in annual operational cost savings.

Similarly, a medium sized business of approximately 500 systems could save more than $500,000. The calculator bases its results on the operational efficiencies gained by having a single console, the potential decreases in license costs and the impact of being able to identify and respond more quickly and effectively to security incidents.

Citrix recently did an internal examination of security costs and found that their results and methodology were closely matched by the McAfee ROI Calculator.

"As a leading technology business provider, it is imperative that we not only have best of breed security solutions but also cost effective solutions," said Ricardo Bonefont, senior information security analyst at Citrix.  "McAfee's integrated solutions deliver great value and return on investment to meet our business needs."

The comprehensive spreadsheet breaks down an organization's cost savings into the following functional areas:

·         Monitoring everyday security and ensuring regulatory compliance

·         Responding to security incidents

·         Maintaining multiple management consoles

·         Managing policy configuration and policy enforcement for multiple point product solutions throughout the organization.

·         Maintaining and managing endpoint, network, and content security infrastructure throughout the organization.

"Customers find it challenging to demonstrate clear financial benefits of their IT investments," said Vimal Solanki, vice president of solutions and competitive marketing at McAfee.  "With the ROI calculator, customers have compelling proof of how McAfee delivers stronger protection, lower costs, and simplified management and compliance.  Additionally, McAfee's channel partners can quickly demonstrate to their customers how to save money while strengthening protection."