B2B brand health: THE APEX index
INTRODUCING THE CYBERSECURITY MARKET
The cybersecurity sector is one of the fastest-growing verticals in B2B, with an estimated total market value of US$147B in 2022. But while rapid growth is on the table for businesses in this industry, trading in safety means making brand trust a critical consideration.
As greater focus is put on the strategic importance of cybersecurity, vendors must appeal to a broad target audience in their brand positioning and assess whether their current brand awareness initiatives are still fit for purpose. Niche players will also need to punch above their weight in brand recognition and consideration inside a market showing increasing signs of consolidation.
Those looking to grasp the US$2T opportunity gap need to project a brand that engenders trust, signals resilience, and underlines an ability to stay ahead of cyber threats. As a result, brand health in relation to customers, employees, partners, and investors will separate those who grab market opportunities in the future and those who fall by the wayside.
Discover which brands are leading the way in our Cybersecurity APEX Index below.
CYBERSECURITY APEX INDEX
Brand health scores (out of a possible total of 160) are an average of all those provided by survey respondents across awareness, perception, and experience (APEX) metrics. More information can be found in the methodology.
| RANK | BRAND | SCORE |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Crowdstrike | 132.09 |
| 02 | Cloudflare | 128.26 |
| 03 | CyberArk | 127.77 |
| 04 | PanW | 127.29 |
| 04 | DarkTrace | 126.69 |
| 06 | NortonLifeLock | 125.00 |
| 07 | ESET | 124.63 |
| 08 | SentinelOne | 124.27 |
| 09 | Telos | 123.48 |
| 10 | Okta | 123.13 |
| 11 | Avast | 123.12 |
| 12 | Fortinet | 122.82 |
| 13 | BAE Systems | 122.29 |
| 14 | Entrust | 121.62 |
| 15 | ZScaler | 121.30 |
| 16 | Iron Mountain | 121.00 |
| 17 | DataDog | 119.50 |
| 18 | LookOut | 118.98 |
| 19 | Cylance | 118.56 |
| 20 | Rapid7 | 118.11 |
| 21 | Imperva | 117.77 |
| 22 | RSA | 117.24 |
| 23 | OpenText | 116.44 |
| 24 | Viadex | 115.20 |
| 25 | SolarWinds | 114.90 |
| 26 | Trellix | 114.85 |
| 27 | Veeam | 114.57 |
| 28 | NetApp | 114.41 |
| 29 | TrendMicro | 112.84 |
IS YOUR BRAND IN
THE APEX INDEX?
Featured brands can receive a FREE personalised report breaking down the results of their APEX Index score in full. Discover how many B2B buyers in your industry are aware of and familiar with your brand, as well as their honest perceptions across seven Brand Virtue indicators that include brand trust, compassion, and distinction.
Each report also dives into your level of brand consideration and advocacy in the market in addition to whether your future buyers are engaging with you through social media, content, or other marketing channels.
DOWNLOAD B2B BRAND HEALTH:
THE APEX INDEX REPORT
OUR METHODOLOGY
B2B Brand Health: The APEX Index ranks the brand health of B2B businesses operating in four high-growth vertical markets: cybersecurity, fintech, renewables, and supply chain and logistics technology. B2B buyers were surveyed on their perceptions of a pre-selected list of organisations, with the results scored to demonstrate individual brand health in addition to an overall ranking.
Shortlist criteria
An initial list of organisations was selected according to baseline criteria of annual revenues of over €25M/US$25M, more than five years’ trading, and headquarters or significant operations in Europe or North America.
A second qualification stage analysed organisations’ current growth and future potential based on financial results and demonstrable progress towards geographic expansion, innovation, or M&A objectives.
Of the 180 brands initially included, only those that received a minimum of thirty completed responses from our B2B buyer participants qualified for inclusion in the final index.
Survey participants
1,200 respondents were recruited by our independent research partner, Savanta, from proprietary business panels via online and mobile channels.
Within each of the four verticals, we surveyed 300 C-Suite, Director, or VP-level decision makers responsible for purchasing vendor solutions. Of the 1,200 respondents, half conducted business in North America and half in Europe.
All responses were provided anonymously in May 2023.
Ranking method
Each survey response was allocated a score against the APEX categories – the greater brand awareness (A), perception (P), and experience levels (Ex), the higher the score. All scores were aggregated and then divided by the total number of responses to give an average index score per brand.