Too many business tools are proven to increase pressure on staff and heighten data security risk. As revealed in our Freedom to Focus report, more than 50% of employees have seen the number and type of collaboration tools in their company increase over the last two years. This means more onboarding, reduced focus, and more digital security vulnerabilities.

This is evident in the data: in the same two-year window, 62% of employees admit to making “email errors”, including sending sensitive information to the wrong recipient and attaching the wrong file.

With all this in mind, it’s important to add security tools to your technology stack that keep your business, data, and employees safe. Let’s take a closer look at the ROI of an email security solution to understand its true value for your organization.

Is outbound email security really that important?

Outbound email errors are a significant security risk facing businesses today. All it takes for data security to be compromised is for a well-meaning employee to send sensitive information to the wrong contact or attach the wrong file to an email. The more employees in your business, the more amplified this risk. In fact, according to an ICO report, human error was to blame for 80% of data breaches in 2021.

Consider that the average employee sends and receives 130 emails every day. When 62% of employees are making email-related errors, this is clearly a problem.

Without outbound email security measures in place, it’s only a matter of time before your data ends up in the wrong hands.

How much does a data breach cost?

A 2022 report by the Ponemon Institute reveals that the average cost of a data breach reached a new record this year, at 4.35 million US dollars. This accounts for direct immediate costs, as well as long-term costs but doesn’t even factor in the indirect reputational damage and loss of customer trust. If their private data ends up in the hands of criminals, customers will inevitably hold your business (and its lack of sufficient security measures) responsible.

How to measure ROI of email security systems

Given the high cost of a potential data breach, the value and ROI of email security systems need to be treated differently to many other tools in a business’s technology stack.

According to Osterman Research, the average business spends $156 on security awareness training every year per employee. That’s roughly £13,000 every year per 100 employees. But security training focusses traditionally on inbound attacks, such as phishing and malware, and fails to tackle outbound incidents.

The true value of email security systems

To prevent data incidents, employees need to be empowered to act securely. IT leaders are realizing the need to cover all bases, with 87% stating it would be beneficial if there was a solution that protected employees from email security errors.

Furthermore, 83% say progressive security strategies empower employees with smart technology rather than burdening them with protocols, processes, and policies.

Zivver Secure Email alerts employees to potential errors in their outbound emails before they hit send, empowering them to correct errors or encrypt sensitive messages and files. In-the-moment error prevention effectively trains employees in security best practice, so awareness goes beyond company culture, embedding a security lifestyle. 

Zivver integrates seamlessly with all major email clients including Gmail, Outlook, and Microsoft 365. Click here to learn more. You can also download our Freedom to Focus report to better understand the impact of smart email security in the workplace.