Section 5: Benchmarking and Link Analysis

You need more than internal logic—you need external proof and performance linkages.

Now that you've established your baseline, it's time to look outward and downward:

• Outward → how your cybersecurity posture compares to your industry peers

• Downward → how gaps in your posture link directly to operational drag, manual effort, and business risk

This section strengthens your business case by applying external benchmarks and link analysis to reveal hidden costs, validate urgency, and show systemic impact.

📊 Benchmarking: Validate Against Industry Norms

Executives and finance leaders often ask: How do we compare to others like us?

Use benchmarking to provide context:

• Spend per user, per application, or as % of revenue

• Control maturity scores based on frameworks like NIST CSF or ISO 27001

• Board reporting frequency or incident response metrics among peers

If you’re below benchmarks, you can position your ask as catch-up to reduce exposure
If you’re above benchmarks, show how your investment is yielding better performance or risk reduction

Tip: SPI 360 assessment data can offer anonymized benchmarking if available.

🔗 Link Analysis: Expose Hidden Business Impact

Link analysis helps connect cyber risk to business performance.

Ask:

• Where are inefficiencies or delays caused by gaps in access, approvals, controls, or compliance?

• Are we duplicating effort, introducing manual workarounds, or adding friction for developers or users?

• What is the cumulative operational cost of these slowdowns?

Examples:

• Poor access controls → increased helpdesk load → delay in onboarding contractors

• Weak identity governance → audit exceptions → cost of remediation and fines

• Manual processes → lost hours in security reviews → delayed time-to-market

These second- and third-order effects help you quantify:

• Lost time

• Wasted resources

• Opportunity cost

• Operational risk

Insight: This is where security becomes a business enabler—or blocker. Show the system-wide consequences.

🧠 Strategic Inputs to Carry Forward

This section provides the contextual and relational insights for your cost-benefit model:

• Quantitative benchmarks for spend and maturity

• Qualitative analysis of where business performance is silently suffering

• A clearer picture of what gets better—and for whom—when the investment is made

📝 Section 5 Planning Questions

1. How does your current cyber posture and spend compare to similar organizations in your industry or size?

2. What are the indirect business impacts caused by gaps in controls, access, or manual effort?

3. What executive stakeholder would care most about those second-order consequences—and how might they describe the pain?