Historically, security programmes were seen as more of a cost centre or help desk function. But now executive leaders are beginning to see the potential of security to enable business outcomes.

Despite this, many CISOs continue to struggle with executive buy-in, as enterprise leaders often debate the role of cybersecurity within the broader business strategy. Below are three ways to shift the conversation and drive support for your security programme with the C-suite.

1) Speak to Business Goals
Executive leaders prioritise the business strategy and measurable outcomes. How can we stay competitive? How can we increase revenue? How can we enhance enterprise operations?

Speak to this by centring your cybersecurity conversations on the business objectives and how the security programme can help achieve those goals. For example, if operational efficiency is a priority, then outline what systems can enable employees to complete their work more seamlessly and with the necessary information security controls in place.

For compliance-driven industries like finance and healthcare, most cybersecurity conversations with stakeholders will inevitably centre on what regulations need to be met and whether the organisation meets those particular compliance standards.

Although regulatory compliance will always be top of mind for highly-regulated organisations, there are still ways to connect your security programme to business strategy. For instance, HIPAA compliance not only ensures your organisation meets regulatory standards - it also enables the organisation to sell into the healthcare market.

2) Report the Right Metrics
What are the metrics that will allow you to measure whether your security programme is working and helping the business drive forward?

Technical leaders often focus on metrics like: What are the key risk indicators? How many different kinds of malware are we dealing with? What are the performance measurements of the security operations centre?

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the metrics that point to the business value of the spend. These are the metrics the C-suite or board will want to see to validate that the security programme is aligned with business goals, and investing in the right tools and partners. Prepare these metrics by assessing:

• How has our operational efficiency improved?
• How has our security posture improved?
• How much monetary loss was prevented?

3) Share Actionable Intelligence
When executives ask about the enterprise's security posture, they're not asking for the technical details about your team's processes and technologies - they want to know how the company's risk profile compares to others in the industry, what vulnerabilities exist and how the company is responding to become more secure.

Threat intelligence can provide the answers to these questions. It not only enables your team to track down threats within your environment and respond to them, but also allows you to go back to your leadership and show them what attacks are occurring, what kind of threat actors are targeting the business and what vulnerabilities need to be addressed.