How to Estimate Cyber Budget?

This posting is specifically written for our partners and customers that are using X-Analytics are part of their consulting service of tech-enabled service. This posting focuses on how to estimate cyber budget, which is a mandatory question within Profile Settings, Setup/Edit Profile.

Why is Cyber Budget within Setup?

Question E.7, Cyber Budget, is necessary for Governance reasons, for return on investment (ROI) reasons, and to serve as the basis for our soon-to-be-available Budget Analyzer module.

What if You Don't Know the Cyber Budget?

In certain cases, your customers may not be willing to provide an answer for E.7. In such a case, you still need to provide an answer to complete the profile and gain access to the X-Analytics Insights.

To prevent getting stuck with an incomplete Profile, you have three options.

Option 1. $0 for Cyber Budget (Default)

With this option, just enter $0 for question E.7. This will basically serve as a "null" value through the X-Analytics application. If you do nothing, the default value will be $0 for question E.7.

Option 2: Standard Estimate for Cyber Budget

Since 2024, cyber budgets have fallen from 1.1% of revenue to about 0.6% of revenue. Yes, from a statistical perspective, cyber budgets are decreasing as a percent of revenue.

With this option, take the revenue value (from question E.3) and multiply it by 0.006. As an example:

Revenue = $1,500,000,000

Standard Estimate = 0.6%

Estimated Cyber Budget Formula = $1,5000,000,000 x 0.006 = $9,000,000

Option 3: Industry Vertical Estimate for Cyber Budget

As part of our Industry Benchmark product, we collect, analyze, and trend cyber budgets across the 21 industry verticals within X-Analytics. As you can imagine, cyber budgets are not the same across all industry verticals.

With this option, take the revenue value (from question E.3) and multiply it by the cyber budget listed in the table below. As an example:

Revenue = $1,500,000,000

Industry Vertical = Financial and Insurance Services

Industry Vertical Estimate = 1.0%

Estimated Cyber Budget Formula = $1,5000,000,000 x 0.01 = $15,000,000

Industry Vertical	Estimated Cyber Budget
Finance and Insurance (52)	~1.0% or greater
Retail Trade (44,45)	~0.6%
Healthcare and Social Assistance (62)	~0.8% to 1.0%
Manufacturing (31,32,33)	~0.1% to 0.3%
Accommodations and Food Services (72)	~0.6%
Education (61)	~0.5% or less
Information, Software, and Technology (51)	~1.0% of greater
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54)	~0.5% to 0.7%
Public Administration (92)	~0.8% to 1.0%
Transportation & Warehousing (48,49)	~0.3% to 6%
Construction (23)	~0.3% to 6%
Mining (21)	~0.5% to 0.8%
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)	~0.3% to 6%
Utilities (22)	~0.5% to 0.8%
Administrative and Support, and Waste Manager and Remediation Services (56)	~0.3% to 6%
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting (11)	~0.3% to 6%
Management of Companies and Enterprises (55)	~0.3% to 6%
Real Estate Rental and Leasing (53)	~0.5% to 0.7%
Other Services (except Public Administration) (56)	~0.5% to 0.7%
Wholesale Trade (42)	~0.3% to 6%
Aviation (481,488,492)	~0.8% to 1.0%

Need More Assistance?

If you need more assistance, then please contact your assigned Customer Success Team Member or Partner Representative.