MDR · 7 MIN READ · SCOUT SCHOLES · AUG 5, 2025 · TAGS: Guidance
TL;DR
- When you’re selling to a CFO, you’ll want to skip the scare tactics and just skip straight to the math
- Use numbers that matter, like the total potential cost of a security breach to your organization, including the loss of revenue because of it, legal fees, etc.
- Be prepared for pushback by centering your proposal around what matters to them—the company’s bottom line
When it comes to budget, security just seems to always be in your financial team’s crosshairs. That’s because, while sales can show revenue charts and marketing can prove campaign ROI, cybersecurity is stuck explaining why spending money to prevent things that didn’t happen is valuable. And your CFO keeps asking why you can’t just use “that cheaper thing” or “bundle it with something we already have.”
If you’re trying to get approval for Expel MDR, you’re not just asking for dollars—you’re asking them to spend money to prevent problems they hope never to see. Here’s how to make that conversation go your way.
What your CFO is really thinking
Your CFO isn’t trying to be difficult. While you’re thinking about attack vectors and security gaps, they’re thinking about whether spending $200K on security is better than hiring two more salespeople or launching that new product feature.
They’re not anti-security—they’re pro-results. When they push back on your security budget, they’re usually weighing it against the marketing campaign that could bring in $2 million in new business, or that operational efficiency project that could cut costs across the board.
At the end of the day, security and IT spend is just not going to be seen as a revenue center, but it does mean that cybersecurity can be seen as a business enabler and even (indirectly) drive profitability. It’s all in the framing and results you can bring.
Let’s talk real numbers that matter
Advocating for your security spend is possible—and it doesn’t require needing to turn your CFO into a security expert (and their eyes will probably glaze over if you try). However, you do need to speak their language of dollars, risk, and business impact.
For example, the average data breach costs $4.88 million. But that’s just the start. Here’s what really happens when things go wrong:
- Fines and legal headaches: GDPR alone has handed out over $7 billion in fines. Some companies got hit with penalties worth hundreds of millions. That’s not “maybe someday” money—that’s actual checks that got written.
- When systems go down, money stops coming in: Manufacturing companies lose an average of $532,000 per hour during outages. Retail loses sales during checkout problems. Service companies can’t bill for time that disappears during incidents.
- Customer trust takes forever to rebuild: After a major breach, companies see their stock prices drop an average of 7.5%. For a billion-dollar company, that’s $75 million in market value. Gone. On top of that, the global average cost of a data breach is over $4 million, so financial costs add up fast.
- The hidden costs nobody talks about: Months of forensic work, rebuilding systems, and fixing processes. These cleanup costs often cost more than the initial response.
Present this stuff as factual business reality, not fear-mongering. Your CFO plans for all kinds of risks—this is just another one that needs smart planning.
Building your business case with numbers they care about
Turn your security request into a business investment with clear math.
Staff cost reality check: Add up what it really costs to hire and keep SOC people. Salary, benefits, training, management time, and replacement costs when they quit (which happens a lot in security). Compare that to Expel’s annual cost and the savings become obvious.
What incidents truly cost: Use industry numbers to estimate what a breach would cost your specific company. Factor in your industry, size, and what kind of data you have. Then show how Expel reduces both the chance it happens and how bad it gets if it does.
Compliance made simple: Most compliance frameworks require continuous monitoring and incident response. Show how Expel checks those boxes while reducing the time your team spends preparing for audits. Compliance failures trigger fines—prevention is cheaper.
Keeping the business running: Your company makes money through digital systems. When those systems go down during security incidents, revenue stops. Frame Expel as insurance that keeps the money flowing.
How to structure your proposal
Write it out like any other business investment request. Be sure to include:
Executive summary: Lead with the money stuff. How much it costs, what you get back, and your recommendation. Keep it under 200 words, but make every word count.
What’s wrong now: Describe your current security situation in business terms. Coverage gaps, slow response times, and resource problems that hurt business operations. Put numbers on these problems wherever possible.
What Expel MDR fixes: Focus on business outcomes, not technical features. Explain how it addresses your current problems while providing measurable benefits. Emphasize that it makes your current team more effective rather than replacing them.
The money part: Clear cost comparisons, ROI calculations, and risk reduction value. Include both direct savings and avoided costs. Use conservative estimates so your numbers hold up under scrutiny. And back this up with documentation from Expel (ask about our free business value analysis).
How we’ll actually do this: Address practical concerns about deployment, integration, and change management. CFOs want to know that expensive investments can be implemented without disrupting business (and since Expel plugs into the tech you own, this is a no-brainer and onboarding is simple—done in less than seven minutes).
How we’ll measure success: Define how you’ll track and report value over time. Include operational metrics like response times and business metrics like incident cost avoidance. Promise regular reporting and be specific about what you’ll measure. Show them sample reports that you can run at any time from within the Expel console.
How Expel MDR actually saves you money
Forget the tech specs. Here’s what matters to your budget.
No need for a whole security team: A decent SOC analyst costs $75K-$137K per year, with an average salary of $95,433 a year (before bonuses). You need 8–12 people for 24×7 coverage. That’s $800K to $1.5 million annually in salaries alone, before benefits, training, and management overhead. Expel gives you enterprise-grade monitoring for a fraction of that cost, and your current team can focus on strategic stuff instead of sifting through mostly just noise alerts.
Way faster response times matter: Most companies take 196 days to find a breach, then another 69 days to stop it. That’s almost nine months of damage. Expel’s mean-time-to-remediate (MTTR) is 17 minutes. Do the math: if a breach costs $4.88 million over 265 days, that’s about $18,400 per day of exposure. Cut that window from months to minutes, and you’re talking serious money saved.
Predictable costs instead of surprise bills: Security incidents mean overtime, emergency consultants, and panic purchases of expensive tools. Cybersecurity turnover is over 20% annually—more recruiting and training costs. Expel’s tiered pricing means you can budget properly instead of crossing your fingers and hoping nothing bad happens.
On top of considering your budget, there’s also three core benefits your CFO will appreciate about good MDR and security:
- It keeps your company out of trouble (and the press)
- It minimizes the financial impact during emergencies
- It helps you a void costly disruptiosn to business operations
Handling the pushback you know is coming
Your CFO will ask questions. Here’s how to answer them without sounding defensive.
“Why can’t we just use what we already have?”
You probably spent a fortune on security tools already—firewalls, antivirus, SIEM systems, the works. Your CFO’s thinking: “We have all this stuff, why do we need more?”
Here’s the thing: tools create data, not answers. Your SIEM might collect millions of log entries every day, but finding the actual threats in all that noise takes expertise you probably don’t have sitting around. Expel doesn’t replace your tools—we make them actually useful by having experts who know what to look for. (And tool ROI is music to your CFO’s ears.)
“What about those cheaper options?”
Every CFO loves a bargain. They’ve seen proposals for basic monitoring services or simple software tools that cost way less.
The catch: cheap, “good enough” monitoring just creates more alerts for your team to deal with. When something does happen, you’re still calling expensive emergency response consultants and forensic experts. Expel includes the proactive expert response in the price. You’re paying for the boring stuff now, so you don’t pay absurd money during an emergency.
“Can’t we just add this to what we’re buying from [insert big vendor here]?”
Bundling sounds great until you need it to work. Companies whose main business is selling just endpoint detection and response (EDR), just cloud services, or any other specific security niche often act like they can do every aspect of security equally well (when that isn’t the reality).
Here’s what bundling really costs you:
- First, you lose negotiating power: When everything comes from one vendor, renewal time becomes “take it or leave it” pricing. They know switching would mean ripping out your entire security stack, so they can jack up prices knowing you’re stuck.
- Second, you’re settling for “good enough” security forever: As new attack surfaces emerge—think cloud misconfigurations, supply chain attacks, or AI-powered threats—do you really think your cloud provider or software vendor will be first to develop defenses? They’re busy with their core business while attackers are evolving daily.
- Third, when something goes wrong, you get finger-pointing instead of solutions: “That’s not our security team, that’s our cloud team.” “The EDR alert went to a different group.” “We’ll need to escalate this to the security specialists.” Meanwhile, attackers are having a field day in your network.
Getting to yes
Your final conversation with the CFO should feel like a business partnership discussion, not a vendor pitch.
Acknowledge that they have to make tough choices with limited funds. Show that you’ve done your homework on alternatives, considered the costs carefully, and structured this as an investment that delivers measurable value. Don’t position security as a cost to minimize—position it as a capability to optimize.
Most importantly, commit to proving the value over time. CFOs approve things when they trust that the money will be well-spent and well-tracked. Your willingness to be accountable for results often makes the difference. Expel is here to build your resilience.
When your CFO signs off on Expel MDR, you’re not just getting budget approval—you’re getting recognition that security deserves the same strategic thinking as any other business investment. By speaking their language of business value and financial impact, you turn cybersecurity from a necessary evil into a competitive advantage that protects and enables business success.
