The Total Economic Impact of the Tripwire Enterprise Solution

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of implementing Tripwire Enterprise. Forrester’s aim is to clearly show all calculations and assumptions that go into the analysis. This study should be seen as a guide to better understand and evaluate the Tripwire Enterprise solution.

Methodology
Tripwire selected Forrester for this project because of our expertise in IT real-time configuration control software solutions and Forrester’s Total Economic Impact (TEI) analysis methodology. TEI not only measures costs and benefits (areas that are typically accounted for within IT) but also weighs the enabling value of a technology in increasing the effectiveness of overall business processes. Forrester’s TEI methodology serves an extremely useful purpose by providing a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions (see Appendix B for additional information on the TEI methodology).

Approach
Forrester used a four-step approach for this study:

1. Forrester interviewed Tripwire marketing, product management, and sales employees to fully understand the value proposition of the Tripwire Enterprise solution.
2. Using knowledge of Tripwire Enterprise as well as input from existing Forrester research and Tripwire, Inc., a Forrester representative conducted in-depth interviews with Dan Chervenka, Director of Security and BITS (Business and Information Technology Systems) for Axia NetMedia, to understand the costs, benefits, risks, and flexibility options of using the Tripwire Enterprise solution on the Alberta SuperNet and Axia NetMedia’s corporate network.
3. Forrester constructed a financial value model representative of the data collected in the interviews.
4. Forrester created this study, which represents and examines the estimated value of the findings derived from the customer interview and analysis process and from Forrester’s independent research.

Key Findings
Table 1 represents a summary of the ROI and savings Axia NetMedia will realize over a four-year period by deploying Tripwire Enterprise at the Alberta SuperNet and its corporate offices.

Table 1: Four-year Summary Financial Results — Axia NetMedia (in USD)

Summary of financial results: Risk-adjusted
Return on investment (ROI): 54%
Payback period: Within 21 months
Total costs (present value): ($561,626)
Total cost savings and benefits (PV): $866,771
Total (net present value): $305,145
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

The four-year, risk-adjusted total net present value (NPV) of $305,145 represents the net cost savings and benefits attributed to using Tripwire Enterprise when compared with Axia NetMedia’s prior use of ineffective security controls from a previous legacy vendor. (See details below in Costs, Benefits, Flexibility, and Risks sections). In addition, the risk-adjusted ROI was a favorable 54%. Forrester Research also identified several significant unquantified business benefits attributed to Tripwire Enterprise, which are listed on page 11 of this study.

If a risk-adjusted ROI still demonstrates a compelling business case, it raises confidence that the investment is likely to succeed because the risks that threaten the project have been taken into consideration and quantified. The risk-adjusted numbers should be taken as “realistic” expectations, since they represent the expected value considering risk. Assuming normal success at mitigating risk, the risk-adjusted numbers should more closely reflect the expected outcome of the investment. The objective of this study is not to illustrate savings that other organizations can obtain by deploying Tripwire Enterprise but rather to identify savings experienced by Axia NetMedia. These results can be used as a guide to allow other organizations to determine the appropriate benefits for their particular environments.

Disclosures
The reader should be aware of the following disclosures associated with this study:

- The study was commissioned by Tripwire Inc. and delivered by the Forrester Consulting group.
- Tripwire and Axia NetMedia reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintained editorial control over the study, its findings, and financial data. Forrester did not accept any changes to the study that contradicted its findings, obscured the meaning of the study, or changed any of the data collected.
- The customer name for the study (Axia NetMedia) was provided by Tripwire Inc.
- Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other enterprises will receive within their own environments. Forrester strongly advises that the reader use his or her own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of implementing the Tripwire Enterprise solution.
- This study is not an endorsement by Forrester of Tripwire, Inc., or its offerings.
- The study is not a competitive product analysis.