TL;DR
Security teams are often seen as a cost center rather than a driver of business value. But security leaders can leverage analytics to change that. The right data can give leaders clear visibility into how security reviews can influence deal velocity, improve efficiency, and contribute to business outcomes.

Security is a Business Driver—But Leaders Need to Prove It

Security has traditionally been viewed as a cost center. It’s seen as essential—but not strategic. A function that protects the business but doesn’t contribute to revenue.

That perception is changing. Fast, efficient security reviews help close deals faster and reduce friction during the sales process. When security reviews are streamlined:

  • Deals progress more quickly
  • Sales teams have fewer objections to handle
  • Customer confidence increases
  • Revenue comes at a faster pace 

The challenge for security leaders is proving that the function drives business results. Without clear data, security’s impact on sales remains invisible. Leadership wants to see how security actions are influencing pipeline, accelerating deal velocity, and contributing to closed revenue.

  • How much pipeline is tied to security reviews?
  • How many deals have stalled because of delayed security reviews?
  • How much time is the team saving with self-serve access and AI automation?

Here’s the truth: When security leaders can tie their work directly to business outcomes, they can secure more resources and position security as a strategic driver of growth.

Track Security’s Impact on Pipeline and Closed-Won Revenue

Security’s impact on sales often goes unrecognized because it’s hard to measure directly. Deals frequently depend on passing a security review, but when the deal closes, the sales team gets the credit—even when security played a critical role in building trust and overcoming objections.

For example, a customer may hesitate to move forward without a completed SOC report. The security team works behind the scenes to provide the necessary documentation, answer follow-up questions, and resolve compliance concerns. 

So how can leaders prove this impact? 

Pipeline reporting gives security leaders the ability to quantify this influence with concrete data:

  • How many deals are tied to security reviews?
  • What percentage of closed-won revenue required a security review?
  • How long did it take to complete the review process?
  • Were follow-ups required after the initial review?
  • Did review completion speed correlate with faster deal closure?
  • How much revenue was tied to security reviews? 

Tying security actions directly to revenue allows leaders to make a stronger case for additional budget and headcount. If security teams can show that a percentage of closed-won revenue required a security review, it becomes easier to justify scaling the team’s capacity or investing in new tools to speed up the process.

This data also helps leaders fine-tune process and strategy.  

For example, say deals involving SOC reports close 20% faster than deals requiring a penetration test. In this case, security teams can adjust their strategy to prioritize the most influential documents. If delays are tied to NDA processing, automating that step could shave days off the sales cycle.

Measuring security’s impact on revenue allows leaders to make the case that security is a business driver. When security teams can point to specific deals and dollars influenced by the review process, they become strategic partners in revenue growth.

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Shorten the Sales Cycle with Streamlined Reviews

A slow security review can stall a deal for days—or even weeks. Manual processes, like chasing down documents or checking NDA status, create delays and friction.

Here’s how it often plays out:

  1. A customer requests a SOC report or penetration test.
  2. Sales forwards the request to the security team.
  3. The security team checks if an NDA is signed.
  4. If all is clear, they send the document.
  5. If the customer has follow-up questions, the process repeats—adding even more time.

The right grouping of in-depth analytics help leaders identify exactly where the process is slowing down. Questions leaders can be understanding are: 

  • How long are prospects waiting for security documentation?
  • Which steps are creating delays?
  • Are certain teams slower to respond than others?

Automating key steps and offering self-serve access reduces delays and speeds up deals. Prospects can securely access the documents they need without involving the security team. Automated workflows handle NDA approvals and other routine tasks, cutting down on back-and-forth and improving response times.

Boost Efficiency with AI and Automation

Security teams are under pressure to work faster and more efficiently—but without data, it’s hard to measure progress. AI-driven analytics give leaders clear visibility into how the team is performing and where efficiency gains are happening. 

Leaders can track how much time is saved through automation, how many questionnaires are completed, and the overall accuracy rate. This data helps leaders identify where the team is operating efficiently and where adjustments are needed.

AI Questionnaire Assistance

Security questionnaires take up too much time. SafeBase AI Questionnaire Assistance:

  1. Automates the process by pulling answers from a centralized knowledge base and past responses. 
  2. Handles complex formats and flags any unanswered questions for quick review
  3. Reduces manual work and speeds up the process.

For example:

  • A security team was struggling with long turnaround times for questionnaires, which slowed down deals and frustrated sales.
  • After implementing SafeBase AI Questionnaire Assistance, the system began handling most responses automatically, pulling from existing data to complete complex forms. 
  • The team only needed to review a handful of flagged questions. 
  • This reduced the time spent on questionnaires by 80%+, allowing the team to focus on more strategic work and helping deals close faster.

Self-Serve Access

Responding to document requests manually is time-consuming and interrupts strategic work. A Trust Center allows prospects to access key documents directly, like SOC reports and penetration tests, without needing to engage the security team. This reduces the volume of inbound requests and frees up the team’s time for more complex issues.

Case Study: How Asana Cut Review Time and Improved Sales Efficiency

Challenge: Asana’s security review process was slowing down deals. Prospects would send long questionnaires late in the sales cycle, creating delays and back-and-forth between the security and sales teams. Finding the right answers took too much time and effort.

Solution: After setting up a SafeBase Trust Center, Asana centralized security documentation, automated NDA approvals, and made it easy for prospects to access documents directly through Salesforce. This reduced review time by 10x and increased customer confidence, with over 24,500 views in the first four months.

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Get Clear On Your Team’s Impact with SafeBase Analytics

SafeBase’s analytics dashboards give security leaders data to measure how security is driving business outcomes. This helps leaders identify gaps, streamline processes, and prove security’s impact on deal velocity and revenue.

With SafeBase’s dashboard, leaders can:

  • See open deals: Get all teams on the same page about open deals, so prioritization can adjust based on business needs. 
  • Monitor access requests: Understand how many requests are coming in and which documents are in highest demand.
  • Measure performance: Connect security review performance to deal velocity and closed-won revenue.
  • Identify process gaps: Spot breakdowns and fix them to keep deals moving.

When security leaders have the right data, they can demonstrate security’s business impact and drive strategic improvements across the organization.

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