Why it is Cost Effective to Rent a Firewall vs. Buy One

Introduction

With the rapid changes in technology and how people get to use it, Cyber Security has become a big question for all businesses/organizations. And clearly, effective protection mechanisms such as firewalls are a must. Yet, organizations are left with a difficult choice — buy or rent their firewall? This blog will focus on how renting costs less and provides flexibility over buying a firewall to be used by service providers. This might make the leasing option a no-brainer for businesses that tend to be more budget-conscious when it comes to beefing up their cybersecurity infrastructure.

Cost Analysis to Buy Vs Rent a Firewall

Upfront Costs

Buying: Initially, the purchasing cost of a firewall is high. It requires businesses to shell out a significant amount initially, on hardware and software licenses — plus any other feature they may need.

Leasing: Leased-out firewalls generally require lower initial investment. The costs are spread out through small, predictable monthly or yearly payments instead of a big payment. This finance model is very popular among the startups and SMEs who do not have a lot of cash flowing in.

Maintenance & Support

Purchasing: You will continue to pay for the ownership of a firewall in maintenance, updates and technical support. These costs begin to snowball and need more resource spent on them — such as having an IT team just for Oracle.

Renting: Scalability wise, rental agreements include maintenance and support in the monthly or yearly fee. In addition to removing the cost of surprise maintenance, it guarantees that your firewall is always up-to-date with the latest security updates and patches. This usually means that your own support teams can be absent of the deal, with any technical issues being taken care of by service providers.

Depreciation and Obsolescence

Buy: Technology quickly becomes obsolete, driving down its value. A firewall purchased today could very well be end-of-life and irrelevant a few years down the line, requiring another major capital investment to replace outdated hardware.

Renting: Renting a firewall eliminates depreciation and obsolescence as concerns. That lease agreement will typically include newer models as they come out, so you always have the latest technology without additional capital expenditure.

Flexibility and Upgrades

Flexibility is another one of the most significant value propositions for renting a firewall. This is why the flexibility and the ability to upgrade are so important.

Scalability

Purchasing: Expanding an on-premise firewall infrastructure can be challenging and expensive. As your business grows, you will start needing to buy more hardware and maybe even a new setup altogether.

Renting: The most scalable option available. This gives you plenty of breathing room to scale up your plan and either add users, data or security features without spending a lot from the get-go. This is especially important when growth spurts or seasonal demand fluctuations may be a factor for business organizations.

Technology Upgrades

Purchased: As with on-premises, you are looking at another significant capital expenditure event to replace the firewall as well as downtime for installation and set-up.

Rental: Rent contracts typically come with the opportunity to bring in brand new hardware and applications very frequently. In turn, this guarantees continuous updates and the latest in protection for your firewall at no additional cost or downtime to maintain cybersecurity readiness measures.

Contract Flexibility

Commercial: When you buy a firewall, you are stuck with that specific technology or vendor until it’s time to upgrade.

Renting: Renting has a lease that is more flexible with terms. That is where you need customized plans from providers that enable your cybersecurity infrastructure to change with the changes in your business. They are also far less expensive in most cases than decommissioning your owned hardware and selling the equipment, or buying out of a capital lease.

Long-Term Savings

Paying monthly (or annually) for a firewall to be leased may look like it will keep the costs piling up, but in many cases, you are saving money and stretching out those saved funds by not actually purchasing all of this other stuff that comes with a new firewall.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Buying: The price you pay for not just the item, but maintenance and support contracts on it – every year from now until that system is replaced or made end of life (EoL). These costs are often unpredictable and tough to manage, especially in the long run.

As a rental: Fixed monthly or yearly payments on top of all costs and so much more predictable! This is what has helped in planning a budget as it becomes easier to forecast and reducing sudden expenditures comes with peace of mind.

Economic Efficiency

Buying: Fixed capital in owned hardware leads to less available cash for other strategic investments. Furthermore, decommission and proper disposal costs concerning outdated hardware as a part of financial loss.

Renting: Renting frees up capital to be invested in the business, where it is needed most. This also eliminates the expense of disposal, as expired or defunct hardware is usually sent back to the providing organization.

Tax Benefits

Acquiring: Depreciating the asset over time brings some tax advantages, but there are also costs of maintenance to consider and a large chunk of capital is tied up with buying.

Renting: Rent usually falls into the category of operational expenses, and it is often fully deductible in the financial year when paid. While this provides tax relief right away, it does not inherently make your business more financially secure.

Conclusion

All in all, renting a firewall from us has numerous financial benefits which make it an appealing investment for many companies. Renting not only offers low upfront costs but also ensures predictable expenses as maintenance and support are taken care of in the most cost-effective way. These rental agreements are flexible, making it simple to scale and upgrade as required so you can be sure that your cybersecurity infrastructure is kept agile, and up-to-date. Financial considerations, savings, and capital allocation in the long-run Predictable Total Cost of Ownership, Tax advantages, and Potential financial benefits is another complex subject on its own that varies by jurisdictions so logically speaking renting a car seems better than buying one full stop!

Renting a firewall becomes quite tempting for businesses during operation, squeezing out maximum efficiency while being secure.