• Proving ROI in cybersecurity is a major challenge, especially for leadership juggling increasingly complex environments and tight budget constraints.
• Forrester Consulting’s Total Economic Impact™ demonstrated Symantec SSE provides clear measurable return, including a 125% ROI.
• If you’re investing in cloud protections, you want the hard data that shows your investment is worth it—and we’ve got it. 

In virtually every industry, security teams are strapped for resources and stretched dangerously thin, with C-level executives walking a high-stakes line between risk and budget. With vendor sprawl and shelfware an increasingly common challenge, leadership needs stronger proof of value before greenlighting new investments. It’s a tale as old as the SOC—or at least as old as firewalls—only the stakes keep rising. 

Risk teams need security tools that quickly stop threats without overcomplicating operations. CIOs want measurable proof their investments will actually pay off—cost savings, performance gains, and long-term value. Security Service Edge (SSE) platforms may promise all of the above, but that only matters if they can prove it. And according to a recent survey, six in 10 (61%) CIOs say demonstrating return on investment (ROI) on tech investments is still a major challenge.

Forrester surfaces meaningful SSE metrics

Proving ROI is tough, but not impossible. That’s why we brought in a trusted third party to measure ours. When it comes to network protection, Symantec SSE delivered just the thing: a 125% ROI over three years, according to the Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) of Symantec Security Edge (SSE), a Broadcom-commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting. 

Designed to rigorously assess the true value of technology, Forrester’s TEI methodology evaluated benefits, costs and risks to give both security teams and leadership a clearer view of how their tools perform. This study captures what both groups care about: productivity gains, improved response time, and reduced complexity. 

To evaluate how Symantec SSE delivered such a promising ROI, Broadcom commissioned Forrester to examine the challenges four real Symantec customer organizations faced and how our SSE helped overcome them (buckle in). 

Before SSE: What worked, what didn’t, and what needed to change

Forrester Consulting interviewed decision-makers from four organizations with direct experience using Symantec Secure Service Edge (SSE) to better understand the solution’s impact over three years. Their insights were then consolidated into a representative, composite organization—a global enterprise with 40,000 employees and $12 billion in annual revenue—which was used as the model for this study.

Before these organizations switched over to Symantec SSE, they were stuck with a collection of niche tools selected using traditional “best-of-breed” criteria. What once served them well were now limited in integrations and slow to adapt. Interviewees shared a litany of common challenges:

• Lack of visibility made it hard to track users, devices, and exposed data.
• Policy enforcement was manual, scattered, and time-consuming.
• On-prem troubleshooting pulled teams away from strategic work.
• Hardware issues led to unexpected downtime.
• Backhauling traffic slowed access to cloud apps.

It wasn’t as simple as replacing old tech. These organizations needed a next-gen network security solution that could adapt, scale and deliver protection wherever users and data moved to. They were in hot pursuit of network defenses that could: 

• Strengthen security across cloud, apps and devices.
• Centralize and simplify policy enforcement.
• Reduce infrastructure and network costs.
• Ensure fast, reliable access for users everywhere without tradeoffs. 

125% ROI: The stuff network security team dreams are made of

Baked right into Google Cloud and built to protect data wherever it travels, Symantec SSE helped these organizations level up their infrastructure, shrink their attack surface, and cut back on complexity. And according to Forrester’s TEI study, Symantec SSE delivered significant ROI of 125% ROI—pointing to business-wide impact that paid for itself in under six months. 

By bringing critical security capabilities together—including ZTNA, SWG, Web Isolation, and DLP—Symantec SSE empowered teams to streamline operations and respond faster with legendary confidence.  

Forrester’s TEI study revealed positive outcomes for the composite organization, such as: 

Up to 14 hours of unplanned downtime avoided annually

Moving off legacy hardware and into a resilient, cloud-first environment built in partnership with Google Cloud helped eliminate disruptions from hardware failures. Over three years, the shift delivered $12.7 million in risk-adjusted benefits from improved reliability. 

75% reduced risk of severe external breach

With continuous inspection and a Zero Trust infrastructure, Symantec SSE shrank attack surfaces and stopped threats before they could reach critical systems, saving companies $1.7 million in expected breach-related costs. 

$8.4 million saved in legacy infrastructure costs

By retiring aging on-premises hardware and simplifying controls, the composite organization reduced overhead and freed up IT staff, allowing teams to focus on other priorities. 

15% boost in SecOps team productivity

Symantec SSE unlocked nearly $1 million in operational efficiency over three years with its centralized policy enforcement controls. It slashed alert noise and freed teams from time-consuming manual tasks. 

$5.1 million gained from better end-user performance

With its globally optimized networks and dedicated egress capabilities like localized traffic exits, users gained fast access to the apps and sites they rely on, which reduced latency and improved productivity across their global workforce. 

But that’s just what’s quantifiable. Organizations also noted unmeasured yet equally valuable gains, like: 

• Lower premiums for cybersecurity insurance
• Reduced user frustration with safe access to uncategorized websites
• Ongoing support and partnership from Broadcom’s expert team. 

Your network called. It wants Symantec SSE.

For security teams grappling with complexity and executives under pressure to show results, Symantec SSE delivered. Under Forrester’s renowned scrutiny, Symantec SSE returned $15.9 million in NPV over three years—demonstrating value well beyond ROI for the composite organization. 

While these results are measurable, they’re also not surprising. Built on a cloud-native architecture and powered by Google Cloud, Symantec SSE brings SWG, CASB, ZTNA and Web Isolation into one streamlined platform for a simplified, unified front against threats. Its cohesive, adaptive defenses streamline operations, reduce overhead and generate millions in savings—often within the first year. 

Want more proof? Read The Total Economic Impact™ Of Symantec Security Service Edge (SSE) to explore in depth how organizations like yours leveled up their security strategy, simplified operations and proved the value of Symantec SSE.