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18/08/2026 2:43 pm
TL;DR: Forrester Consulting’s June 2026 TEI study models a composite fintech environment and finds 351% three-year ROI, $3.6M net present value, and payback in under six months, with most benefit driven by automation, reduced compliance effort, and lower cloud waste, according to Sentra research. The result is a governance case for data security that now needs to be argued in operational terms, not just risk language.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Sentra: Forrester Consulting TEI analysis of data security ROI
By the numbers:
- The composite organisation in the study had 3,500 employees and a 100 petabyte data footprint across hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure.
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should security teams justify data security investments to leadership?
A: They should tie the case to measurable labour reduction, avoided cloud waste, and compliance effort rather than relying only on breach fear.
Q: Why do sensitive-data programmes often overlap with IAM and NHI governance?
A: Because data risk is usually created by access, not storage alone.
Q: What breaks when data discovery is separated from access review?
A: Teams can know where sensitive data exists without knowing who can reach it or whether that access is still justified.
Practitioner guidance
- Map data access to identity ownership Link sensitive-data discovery to the human and non-human identities that can reach each dataset, then assign an owner for every high-risk repository, workspace, and pipeline touchpoint.
- Measure governance effort by environment Track manual classification, review, and compliance hours separately for production, test, and AI-connected environments so the business case reflects where effort is actually spent.
- Reduce hidden data sprawl before expanding AI use Find redundant databases, shadow copies, and unmanaged storage layers before they become training, testing, or analytics inputs that multiply access risk and cloud cost.
What's in the full article
Sentra's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- The full Forrester benefit model behind the 351% ROI figure, including category-by-category assumptions.
- The customer interview basis for the composite fintech organisation and how the study translated interviews into quantified outcomes.
- The detailed cost breakdown for compliance effort, analyst time, cloud infrastructure savings, and breach avoidance.
- The deployment and architecture discussion showing why in-account operation changes the economics of data security.
👉 Read Sentra's TEI analysis of data security ROI and governance savings →
Sentra TEI study: what the ROI numbers mean for security teams?
Explore further
18/08/2026 3:27 pm
Data security is now an identity governance problem, not just a discovery problem. When sensitive data is spread across cloud estates, test systems, and AI workflows, the real risk is which identities can reach it and whether that access is still legitimate. Classification alone does not answer that. Practitioners should treat data visibility, access scope, and identity lifecycle as a single governance chain.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 43% of security professionals are concerned about AI systems learning and reproducing sensitive information patterns from codebases, according to The State of Secrets in AppSec.
- Only 44% of developers are reported to follow security best practices for secrets management, according to The State of Secrets in AppSec.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How should teams evaluate a data security platform that runs inside their cloud account?
A: They should ask whether the platform preserves identity context, reduces data movement, and avoids creating a second infrastructure layer that must be governed separately. In-place operation matters because it keeps classification tied to the same cloud identities and access paths that create the risk in the first place.
👉 Read our full editorial: Sentra’s TEI study puts data security ROI on a board-ready footing
