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PAM ROI Calculator
Model the ROI of your Privileged Access Management over 3–5 years.
Organization Profile Scale drivers
💡 Pick the closest industry to match your typical risk/compliance context.
💡 Full-time equivalent headcount. Typical mid-enterprise: 1,000–10,000.
💡 Many orgs have ~2–8% privileged users depending on complexity.
💡 Typical: 3–8 privileged accounts per privileged user in complex environments.
💡 Conservative range: $60–$140/hour depending on region and role mix.
💡 Default 3 years. You can adjust to 1–5 years.
Current State Costs (Before PAM) Ops overhead
💡 If unsure: start with 0.3–0.8 resets per privileged user per month.
💡 Typical range: $15–$80 depending on process maturity.
💡 Use volume across ITSM (e.g., ServiceNow) for admin access requests.
💡 Typical: 20–60 minutes depending on approvals and system diversity.
💡 Many regulated orgs run quarterly (4/year) privileged reviews.
💡 Typical: 80–400 hours per campaign depending on scope and tooling.
💡 If audited under SOX/PCI/ISO: 400–2000 hours/year is common.
💡 Include AD/domain admin, cloud admin, hypervisors, DB, firewalls, CI/CD.
Risk & Compliance Exposure (Before PAM) Expected loss
💡 Conservative planning range: 5–25% depending on threat profile and controls.
💡 Start with $250K–$5M depending on business impact and environment criticality.
💡 If you don't track this, use 0–3/year depending on org size and maturity.
💡 Typical: $50K–$1M depending on scope and regulatory impact.
💡 Industry observations often show 25–40% dormant privileged accounts in mature environments.
💡 Conservative: 1–3 hours/account/year. Keep it modest for credibility.
💡 If unsure: use annualized remediation + expected audit penalties (not worst case).
PAM Investment (Solution Costs) Spend model
💡 Typical mid-enterprise: $150K–$1.2M/year depending on scope and vendor.
💡 Often 0.75×–1.5× annual license depending on integration complexity.
💡 Use 0 if included in implementation. Otherwise $50K–$500K common.
💡 Typical: $10K–$100K depending on global footprint and role diversity.
💡 Many orgs budget 20–40% of license for ops + premium support.
💡 Start with $0–$150K/year depending on retention and logging standards.
Improvements With PAM Benefit levers
💡 Typical: 70–90% reduction with strong vault adoption.
💡 Typical: 50–80% depending on ITSM + directory integration.
💡 Typical: 60–80% if review evidence is automated and centralized.
💡 Typical: 30–70% depending on auditor requirements and reporting maturity.
💡 Typical: 60–85% reduction after first cleanup cycle + process enforcement.
💡 Typical: 40–75% depending on adoption, MFA coverage, and monitoring.
💡 Typical: 20–60% reduction depending on monitoring and enforcement.
💡 Conservative: 10–40% (avoid overly optimistic figures unless justified).
Estimates are for planning and business case development. Validate with internal metrics, incident history, and audit findings.
Results
ROI, payback, and value driver breakdown
Executive View
Total ROI (%)
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3-year ROI based on benefits vs total investment
Payback period
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Months to break even (if net benefit is positive)
Net benefit
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Total benefits minus total investment over horizon
Annual risk reduction value
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Expected loss reduction from credential + insider risk
Key Insight: Adjust inputs to generate an executive narrative.
Cost vs Benefit (by year)
Investment breakdown
Benefit drivers (annual)
Investment breakdown table
| Category | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total |
|---|
Year 1 includes one-time implementation + integration + training plus recurring annual costs.
Benefits breakdown table
| Benefit | Annual value | 3-year total | % of total |
|---|
Benefits use a conservative expected-value model (frequency/probability × cost) for risk items.
KPI comparison (before vs after)
| Metric | Before PAM | With PAM | Improvement |
|---|
"With PAM" reflects your improvement percentages, not a guarantee—tune based on implementation scope.
Methodology notes
Operational costs: convert time-based effort to annual cost using your hourly rate.
Risk: credential risk uses probability × cost; insider misuse uses incidents/year × cost.
ROI: ROI% = (Net Benefit / Total Investment) × 100.
Disclaimer: Estimates are for planning only. Validate with internal data before making purchasing decisions.