Cloud Security , Events , Governance & Risk Management

Why Vendor Consolidation Reduces Costs and Boosts Security

Complexity has made it tough for organizations to be secure and efficient, which is driving many customers to look at vendor consolidation, said Palo Alto Networks President BJ Jenkins.

See Also: Visibility Into Distributed Cloud Environments

Organizations that deploy a lot of point solutions need operators who can stay current on a multitude of different vendors and find a way to make all the different products work together, which Jenkins said is a tall task. Reducing a company's vendor footprint can both lower operational costs and boost security, particularly in supplier-rich areas such as cloud security, data collection and SOC transformation, he said (see: Palo Alto's BJ Jenkins on Changing Cloud Needs for Customers)

"We force the customer to integrate these products," Jenkins said. "We force them to create business processes to make these products work together. That is not a sustainable process. It adds more human resources and more financial costs for the operation of those solutions. And ultimately, it makes it harder for them to be aware or knowledgeable of if they're secure in their environment."

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at RSA Conference 2023, Jenkins also discusses:

• How vendor consolidation helps with security posture improvements;
• The biggest reasons customers prefer single-vendor to multi-vendor SASE;
• The fastest-growing customer segments for CNAPP and single-vendor SASE.

Jenkins oversees Palo Alto Networks' go-to-market functions, including sales, support, consulting, business development and partnerships. Previously, he served as president and CEO of Barracuda Networks, leading the company's IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the strategic acquisitions of SignNow, Intronis, Sonian and PhishLine. Prior to joining Barracuda, Jenkins held multiple business units and sales and marketing leadership roles at EMC.