There are a variety of popular terms for cloud security including SaaS Security, Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs) and Cloud Access Control (CAC). Cloud-specific security solutions are already an enterprise-level standard in the security stack, even though the vast majority of businesses are still uncertain of what to call them. 451 Research estimates that CAC vendors raised $500m so far this year to fight over a $260m pie in revenue for 2016. This sort of large-scale funding requires large scale solutions, massive feature sets, and expensive contracts in order to produce a return within a few years.
Due to pricing models based on monthly subscriptions per user, there is a battle looming over seats. Enterprise adoption of SaaS security is high, so first-to-market vendors compete over a few large contracts where one contract can fill thousands of seats. The growth and competition are exciting, but it’s left midmarket businesses wondering when they’ll see solutions tailored to their needs. A few cloud security vendors are going after a handful of big enterprises, while the vast majority of businesses that don’t have the same needs and budgets are left without good options. Large CASBs are overkill for most businesses:
“The majority of the market will be satisfied with discovery, basic analytics, and behavioral insights.” – 451 Research
Less is More
As more small to medium-sized enterprises address their Shadow IT problem, they’ll see past the feature bloat and marketing of large scale CASBs. If not, the high cost of large-scale solutions will deter them. For example, cloud activity discovery and analysis is a near universal need, so large CASBs offer it for free in an attempt to capture downmarket revenue streams. The catch is that the overall price per seat is at least 10x more than CASBs that were developed with more specific uses in mind.
Solutions that are more specifically targeted downmarket, like our Cloud Access Monitor (CAM), will be easier to integrate, simpler to use and more affordable. CAM is tailored to your specific needs. Our cloud-native API integrations and network monitoring solution can be added in the cloud or integrated into existing architecture through next-gen firewall partners. CAM provides:
- Compliance
- Discovery
- Visibility
- Behavior analytics
- Automated anomaly detection, notifications, and quarantine.
Despite the astronomical price tags of large CASBs, small and medium sized businesses can address their Shadow IT problem easily and affordably today if they seek out the right tool for the job.
Ready to see a CASB in action? Watch this brief video product tour of Cloud Access Monitor.
