Cloud security and platform thinking : an analysis of Cisco Umbrella, a cloud-delivered enterprise security

Abstract

Cisco's security business segment with over $2 billion in revenue in fiscal 2018, makes Cisco one of the largest enterprise security players in the market. It is also one of the fastest growing business segments for Cisco, with last five years' CAGR at 12%. While this growth rate is in line with the estimated CAGR for cybersecurity market growth between 2018 - 2022, another leading incumbent's growth rate shows there is an opportunity to grow even faster. What can Cisco do to accelerate its security business group's growth and, more broadly, how can Cisco maintain its leadership position in a rapidly evolving and highly fragmented cybersecurity market? The goal of this thesis is two folds: first, is to discover the emerging cybersecurity needs for enterprises under the dynamic threat landscape in mobile, cloud-era, and the resultant growth opportunities and challenges these present to Cisco's security business group. Second, is to discover the main elements of Cisco security business group's current growth strategies and to evaluate platform thinking as a potential growth strategy for Cisco's Cloud Security business. We find Cisco Umbrella, a recently launched cloud security offering exhibits potential to become a foundation for Cisco Cloud Security as an open platform ecosystem. We conclude by discussing a potential future platform direction for Cisco Umbrella and raise follow-on questions for further consideration.