80% Lower Breach Risk: Forrester TEI Study Puts SES Complete To the Test

How Symantec Endpoint Security Complete delivered 180% ROI over three years in a Forrester TEI study

  • According to a new Forrester TEI study, SES Complete delivered 180% ROI over three years, while cutting investigation time and false positives by nearly a third.
  • Aside from payback in under 6 months, SES Complete delivered relief to overwhelmed SOC teams and strained budgets.
  • Time savings and efficiencies also delivered nearly $2.8 million in reduced overhead.

Endpoints continue to multiply—from laptops, servers, and mobile devices to wearable tech like smartwatches and rings, it’s nearly impossible to estimate the number of entry points any one person has on a given day. Factor in remote work and BYOD policies with the relentless evolution of threats, and you’re left with a sprawling attack surface that feels impossible to manage.

To keep up, many organizations try to pile on more tools—firewalls, antivirus, and patch managers—but these point solutions often don’t talk to each other. Stuck in a silo, SOC teams are left wading through alerts while expensive shelfware collects digital dust (made from their very own dollars, oof). 

Backed by Broadcom’s extensive commitment to R&D (the company spent more than $11,000 a minute on R&D alone in fiscal 2024), Symantec Security Endpoint Complete (SES Complete) went through the same rigorous evaluation that Symantec SSE recently underwent.

The results? A 2025 Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ study on SES Complete, commissioned by Broadcom, confirmed what we’ve always known: consolidating and modernizing endpoint defenses under one unified, comprehensive solution can deliver measurable efficiency gains and stronger protections across every device, in every environment.

But don’t just take our word for it—hear exactly what the Forrester study has to say, and why the industry listens. 

Why this study is so valuable

Forrester Consulting helps quantify the real-world costs, benefits, and risks of Symantec Endpoint Security Complete (SES Complete) under the Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) methodology. It gives organizations a clear framework to evaluate their potential impact—and make their business case for SES Complete. 

To build this framework, Forrester interviewed decision-makers from four organizations and modeled a composite organization with 30,000 endpoints protected and $10B in revenue. This approach keeps the findings relevant across industries, while still grounding it in real-world experiences. But Forrester’s findings don’t stop at ROI and reduced risk. The TEI study also sheds light on the day-to-day improvements that might otherwise go unnoticed over a three-year period.
In layman’s terms, the TEI study shows what SES Complete brought to the table, and how your business could potentially benefit from its significant offerings. 

These numbers don’t lie: They shout

The Forrester TEI study found that SES Complete delivered strong, actionable results worth the attention of SecOps leaders. The composite organization modeled in the study saw fewer breaches, faster investigations and significant savings in the areas CISOs love the most. 

The results, according to the Forrester TEI study: 

  • Financial value: 180% ROI and $5.5M Net Present Value (NPV) over three years, and payback in under 6 months.
  • Risk reduction: Up to 80% lower breach risk, avoiding $3.8M in breach risk-related costs and saving $1.8M by retiring legacy tools.
  • Operational impact: 33% faster investigations (worth $2.1M in savings), up to 30% fewer false positives—that’s $489K saved—and less IT support tickets for an additional $298K in savings.

These hard numbers show the potential power comprehensive endpoint security has to transform organizations. By retiring fragmented tools and streamlining workflows, you can cut costs, reduce risk, and empower your analysts with multi-layered protections at every stage.  

There’s more to SES Complete than ROI and dollar signs

The TEI study also captured some of the less tangible—but no less important—benefits of SES Complete. And these gains go out to the SOC teams:

  • Lighter analyst workloads: Simplified workflows, Adaptive Protection and AI-driven behavioral analysis cut down on alert noise and eased collaborations across teams.
  • Quicker remediation: With stronger visibility and positioning, threats were stopped faster, before they overwhelmed resource-strapped analysts.
  • More room for proactive threat hunting: Freed from repetitive investigations, analysts could prioritize higher-value events and improved productivity.
  • Lower overhead beyond security: Less shelfware and lower cybersecurity insurance premiums brought the composite organization unexpected savings alongside a sense of confidence in their defenses.

In an industry full of endpoint security options, SES Complete presents a rare mix: measurable ROI and operational relief. More than simple savings, it’s peace of mind you can’t put a price on. 

Leave no endpoint behind: Why SES Complete is the hero endpoints need 

At Symantec and Carbon Black, we’ve always believed that securing endpoints means securing a business—and its profits. That’s why we continue to invest heavily in R&D, putting our own dollars behind the results you see. 

Purposefully designed to support hybrid environments and remote work at scale, SES Complete unites Adaptive Protection, AI-driven behavioral analysis, and attack surface reduction into one integrated platform—eliminating blind spots before attackers even get a chance to find them.

And while the Forrester study quantified a 180% ROI, its deeper strengths lie in the relief (and early wins) it delivers to SOC teams—from scalable defenses that adapt to any environment to proactive threat hunting capabilities and fewer false positives. SES Complete is built for today’s complex attack surface—and tomorrow’s. 

Watch the expert webinar to hear Forrester guest speakers unpack how SES Complete delivered 180% ROI and 30% fewer false positives. Can’t wait? Download the full study now for the full scope on how it changed four businesses’ outcomes for the better. 

You might also enjoy

Explore Upcoming Events

Find experts in the wild

See what's next