As cybersecurity becomes more of a priority for businesses, it is essential that it is integrated holistically in the different processes, components and stages influencing the   organisational ICT ecosystem. Procurement is a key process shaping the ICT environment of organisations and, as such, should be at the forefront when it comes to meeting   cybersecurity objectives. Procuring and onboarding a new cybersecurity system can be an extensive exercise and has significant impact on your organisations security and   compliance posture. 

 Below are some of the key areas that need to be considered before purchasing cybersecurity services / systems:

• Business Goals:
  Before purchasing any cybersecurity system/servcies, it is essential that you go through your business goals and objectives to ensure that the procurement will help fulfill your business goals. You will need to keep in mind the current cybersecurity risk  to your business, the improvement in your cybersecurity posture after implementing the system and the extent to which your business goals would be achieved by implementing the system.

• Regulatory and compliance requirements:
  Some business have a regulatory requirement to implement a baseline cybersecurity system to secure the business and the systems hosting critical data. As a part of the regulatory requirement the likes of ASIC, APRA and  Government agencies etc. impose a strict requirement to protect the systems failing to do which will significantly impact your business resulting in fines and suspension of business activities.

• Product capablity and features:
  As a standard due diligence before the purchase, you will need to very carefully evaulate the product capability and features to ensure that product is a right fit for the organisation. Product capability , features and service agreement form a critical part of any cybersecurity purchase. If the SLA's are not agressive enough, a malware or a  malicious system activity could cause signficant impact to the business critical data resulting in outage and dame of reputation.

• Pricing:
  As a part of purchasing any systems/services pricing is a very critical component. In today's day and age , there are a variety of ways in which a product could be priced. Subscription model or perpetual license are the most common ways but there could be some tools that could have a per GB pricing or have a baseline product with addons. Depending on the pricing, there could be a signficant variation which could ultimately impact your budgeting

• Training and availability of resource:
  Any system/service is as good as how you know how to use it. It is impreative that you evaluate the availability of training and the ease of access of resource to train your internal teams. There are situation where you should evaluate the ease with which you can hire professionals that have knowledge of the tool.

• Resource Allocation:
  Any cyber security system requires an investment in the form of staff expertise, time and resources. It is very important to evaluate the amount of resource that a business   needs to invest to ensure smooth running of the system.
  
  
   In essence, procuring cybersecurity systems and services can be complex and would require due diligence on the part of business to identify the risk and the best way to   mitigate the risk. A comprehensive procurement process ensures that your organisation is covered for any cyber risk by purchasing the system that best fits your business.