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From A Cost Centrum To A Business-Savvy Peer

In many businesses cybersecurity is often considered a pure cost center and as such it does not get the attention and position it deserves.

We know it heavily depends on type of business but **how could **a good security manager change this common perception?

This is a very real problem, and good security managers can change the perception—but it requires deliberately shifting how security is framed, measured, and communicated, not just how it’s technically executed.

A good security manager changes the “cost center” perception by:

  • framing security as risk and resilience,
  • speaking in business and financial terms,
  • making risk ownership explicit,
  • demonstrating measurable business value,
  • acting as an enabler, not a blocker.

Security becomes not:

“Something we have to pay for” but: “Something we rely on to operate safely and prosper.”

Reframing Security - from “Cost” to “Risk Ownership”

Businesses don’t fund security—they fund risk reduction and resilience.

A good security manager:

  • stops talking about controls, tools, and vulnerabilities
  • starts talking about business risk, financial impact, and decision trade-offs

Example of the shift

  • not this: “We need budget for EDR because attackers are getting sophisticated.”
  • but this: “Without EDR, the probability of a ransomware outage rises from 10% to 90%, with an estimated €50000 in downtime and regulatory exposure.”

Security becomes a risk management function, not an IT expense.

Key mindset: Security doesn’t prevent bad things; it limits business loss.

Aligning Security Objectives Directly to Business Goals

Security gains attention when it clearly enables what the business already cares about.

A good security manager:

  • learns the top 3–5 business objectives (growth, uptime, customer trust, regulatory approval, M&A, etc.)
  • explicitly maps security initiatives to those objectives

Examples

  • Revenue growth → security enables customer trust and enterprise sales,
  • Operational continuity → security reduces outage risk and recovery time,
  • Regulatory compliance → security avoids fines, legal exposure, and deal stoppers,
  • Digital transformation → security enables cloud adoption safely.

When security is seen as a prerequisite for business strategy, it stops being optional.

Speak the Language of Executives and Boards

Many security leaders lose credibility by staying too technical.

Effective security managers:

  • Translate technical issues into financial, legal, and reputational impact
  • Use simple narratives, not threat jargon
  • Present options, not demands

Board-level framing

Instead of:

“we have 1,200 critical vulnerabilities.”

Say:

“two systems that generate 40% of revenue are exposed to a known attack path. Fixing this costs €50k; not fixing it exposes us to an estimated €2–5M loss.”

This positions security as decision support, not fear-mongering.

Make Risk Visible (and Owned) by the Business

Security is seen as a cost center when it “owns all risk.”

A mature security leader:

  • clearly documents risks,
  • assigns business owners to those risks,
  • makes acceptance of risk an explicit management decision.

Practical tactic

Use a simple risk register that states:

  • business process affected,
  • financial / operational impact,
  • risk owner (VP, product owner, FD, etc.),
  • decision: mitigate, transfer, accept.

Once leaders sign off on risk, security is no longer “blocking”—it’s informing and enabling governance.

Demonstrate Value Through Metrics That Matter

Security metrics often fail because they measure activity, not impact.

Avoid:

  • number of alerts,
  • number of tools,
  • number of vulnerabilities found.

Use:

  • reduction in incident response time,
  • downtime avoided,
  • percentage of critical assets with strong controls,
  • regulatory audit success rate,
  • mean time to recover (MTTR).

Tie metrics to business continuity and financial exposure, not technical output.

Enable the Business Instead of Saying “No”

Security earns trust when it’s perceived as a partner, not a gatekeeper.

Good security managers:

  • offer secure ways forward, not blanket rejections,
  • participate early in projects (Dev, cloud, product design),
  • design guardrails instead of roadblocks.

“Yes, you can launch it - but here’s how we need to reduce risk to an acceptable level.”

This transforms security from a constraint into an enabler of speed and confidence.

Use Real Incidents (Internal or Industry) Strategically

Nothing changes perception faster than credible, relevant examples.

Effective leaders:

  • reference incidents in the same industry or geography,
  • focus on business consequences, not technical failures,
  • avoid fear tactics; use calm, factual storytelling.

Example:

“This competitor lost €1M and three major clients due to a 2-day outage. Our current situation is similar in these two areas.”

Executives understand stories better than dashboards.

Build Executive Relationships, Not Just Reports

Perception changes through trust, not documents.

Strong security managers:

  • build one-on-one relationships with key executives,
  • understand their pressures and incentives,
  • tailor security discussions to their priorities.

When executives see the security leader as a business-savvy peer, not a technical specialist, then budget and attention follow.