Hey everyone! I've been trying to build a business case for expanding our AppSec program (especially more SAST/SCA coverage and a dedicated threat modeling tool), and I keep hitting a wall when finance asks for the "ROI." We all know it's about risk reduction, but they want numbers.
I started cobbling together a spreadsheet to quantify things, but I'm sure I'm missing angles. Here's what I'm tracking so far:
* **Cost Avoidance:** Estimating the cost of a "prevented" security bug based on OWASP data on fix cost in prod vs. design phase. I'm using a simple multiplier.
* **Productivity Savings:** Time saved by developers when SAST/SCA catches issues early in the IDE vs. in a late-stage PR review. I'm logging "hours saved per week" from early feedback.
* **Compliance & Audit Efficiency:** Rough estimate of hours saved during our SOC 2 audits by having clear, automated reports from our tools.
* **Vendor Comparison:** I have a tab comparing tools not just on price, but on "time to value" and "noise reduction" scores.
My model feels... clunky. Has anyone else built something like this? I'd love to compare notes or see templates. Specifically:
* How do you put a number on reputation damage or customer trust?
* Do you factor in the speed of secure development (e.g., fewer security-related deployment blockers)?
* What metrics do you pull from your existing tools to feed into the calculator?
If you're willing to share your spreadsheet or even just your framework, it would be a huge help. I'm happy to share my WIP template in return!