The cybersecurity landscape is constantly changing as new technologies and threat trends emerge. Maintaining an effective cybersecurity strategy over time requires updating tools and practices with the evolution of cyberattacks, security capabilities, and business operations. Implementing the best tools for the most pressing issues as they arise has been the predominant tactic for many organizations.

However, some cybersecurity leaders believe that this approach is no longer sufficient for addressing modern threats. Vendor sprawl makes for a large and complex attack surface, leading to difficulties with security, integration, and business operations. This is why the mindset of the industry is shifting toward vendor consolidation for increased efficacy and efficiency in cybersecurity strategies.

Traditional Approaches to Cybersecurity

Since the advent of the cybersecurity industry, the number of vendors and tools has ballooned far beyond its early stages. Traditionally, IT operations were located in mostly on-premises repositories, and cloud services were not nearly as popular as they have become today. Even when there were fewer options to choose from and fewer threats to worry about, new cybersecurity tools and practices were constantly developing.

Organizations in the past have usually focused on finding the best tool for their needs and resources in a given area. Over time, rather than evaluating their security strategy as a whole, businesses often simply add new tools to address new and emerging problems. Some vendors offer extensive portfolios of products, while others sell only one particular solution, but regardless, most organizations employ a range of vendors to meet their varying needs.

Today, there are more tools and vendors than ever before for organizations to pick from. While the ability to find dozens of solutions addressing the same cybersecurity issue provides organizations with a wide variety of choice, this is not always an advantage. The range of vendors and solutions on the market presents a number of challenges for organizations attempting to build effective cybersecurity strategies.

Longtime Challenges and Shifting Landscapes

Some of the difficulties associated with tool sprawl and excessive options on the market have been present since the beginning but have only become more prominent and pressing over time. There are a number of growing challenges to the traditional approach to cybersecurity solution evaluation and implementation, such as:

• The sheer volume of choices can turn picking a solution into a time-consuming and tedious process of comparing dozens of similar tools to find the best fit.
• The nuances of the differences between solutions and their capabilities may cause confusion and complicate the decision-making process.
• Increasing dependence on cloud technology has created a landscape where IT operations are more spread out, making it more difficult to keep track of them.
• Implementing new tools requires integrating them with existing systems and solutions, which becomes more complicated and difficult as more tools are added.
• Managing solutions from a large number of vendors is inefficient and can take up unnecessary resources, from training employees on new cybersecurity tools to maintaining the solution over time.
• Employee turnover can leave tools untended or limit their capabilities if the person primarily responsible for managing a certain solution leaves the organization.
• Maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements can be difficult for organizations with many different solutions from different vendors.

With these issues growing more relevant every day, experts recommend that organizations take steps toward vendor consolidation.

Benefits of Vendor Consolidation

Vendor consolidation is a useful practice for organizations looking to simplify their security strategies. Consolidating vendors mitigates the above challenges and streamlines many of the processes involved in managing security tools. This approach is growing in popularity among cybersecurity experts and organizations for a number of reasons.

• Minimizing the number of vendors working with your organization means that there are fewer vectors for attack. Each relationship with a vendor represents a path that bad actors can potentially take to infiltrate your organization. Reducing these relationships offers less opportunity for cybercriminals to launch attacks.
• Decreasing the different tools bought from different vendors makes it easier for organizations to manage the tools they have. Administration work, like deployment and training, is less cumbersome with fewer vendors.
• Tools and solutions offered by the same vendor are more likely to integrate smoothly and achieve effective interoperability.
• Sales and support contact for multiple tools go through the same vendor, and they understand not only the individual tools but the way they work together.
• Researching, vetting, and establishing a trusting relationship with vendors is a time-consuming process that organizations can cut down on by forging strong relationships with a few vendors for a wide variety of tools.

According to Fortra’s 2024 State of Cybersecurity Survey, 45% of respondents have already begun consolidating vendors, 21% are planning to do so, and 34% have no plans to consolidate vendors. Organizations are driven to vendor consolidation by a desire for improved security posture (73%), reduced operational management (68%), cost savings (66%), and time savings (52%).

Conclusion

Vendor consolidation can be a helpful way for organizations to fortify their security strategies and streamline cybersecurity tool management and administration. With issues like skills and staffing shortages, budget limitations, and the constant evolution of the threat landscape, it is more challenging than ever for organizations to secure attack vectors and maintain operational efficiency. Vendor consolidation and managed services can go a long way toward saving organizations time, labor, and other resources when executing their security strategies.