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Digital ecosystems are growing more complex, making public key infrastructure (PKI) management increasingly critical—and increasingly costly. That means modernization is now a strategic necessity, not just a technical upgrade.

To better understand the value of modernizing PKI, ¶ºÒõ¹Ý partnered with Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impactâ„¢ (TEI) study focused on ¶ºÒõ¹Ý ONE. The analysis draws from detailed interviews with five enterprise customers across various sectors. With these insights, Forrester created a composite organization representing an enterprise that manages 200,000 digital certificates, using the composite to model the projected costs, benefits, and business outcomes over a three-year timeframe.

This isn’t a forecast; it’s a decision-making tool designed to help IT and security leaders assess the potential impact of PKI modernization within their own infrastructure.

PKI’s evolving role: From infrastructure backbone to strategic security layer

Public key infrastructure has long underpinned digital trust—securing connections, encrypting sensitive data, and verifying the identities of users and devices. But what was once a background utility has become a focal point in enterprise security strategy.

The environment has changed dramatically. Zero trust frameworks demand continuous authentication and stronger identity assurance. Enterprises are preparing for a future where AI-powered agents operate across networks—and each one must be validated and trusted. Meanwhile, the looming threat of quantum computing puts pressure on organizations to re-evaluate the cryptographic foundations of their systems.

Compounding these challenges, certificate volumes are rising while certificate lifespans are shrinking. The CA/Browser Forum has mandated that public TLS certificate validity drop from 398 days to just 47 by 2029—an almost eightfold increase in renewal frequency. Without automation, managing this pace of renewal will be nearly impossible, putting organizations at risk of outages, compliance gaps, and operational slowdowns.

Legacy, manual PKI management tools simply weren’t built for this kind of scale or speed. Modern PKI must be agile, automated, and resilient—designed to meet today’s demands and tomorrow’s disruptions.

Modeling ROI: What the Forrester study found

The results yielded by Forrester’s composite organization over three years were impressive:

Here’s a look at the measurable improvements that fueled those results:

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More than money: Over 200,000 hours reclaimed

It’s easy to focus on ROI. But behind the numbers lies a more meaningful driver: time. In the Forrester study, the composite organization unlocked substantial time savings through PKI modernization.

By automating certificate provisioning and renewals, the organization eliminated over 160,000 hours of manual labor. And when you include additional efficiencies like streamlined audit preparation, reduced security incidents, and faster development cycles, the total time savings exceeded 200,000 hours over three years.

That reclaimed time was more than cost savings. It was a catalyst. IT and security teams were able to move away from firefighting and toward strategic initiatives that strengthened security and improved agility across the organization.

The value beyond the spreadsheet

Not every benefit shows up neatly in a cost model. But that doesn’t make it any less real. In the Forrester interviews, customers pointed to a range of advantages that extended well beyond time and budget savings:

• Accelerated time to market for new offerings
• Reduced effort and cost tied to audit prep
• Improved morale across IT, development, and compliance teams
• Greater customer trust, thanks to better uptime and visibility
• Confidence in future-proofing, especially around post-quantum readiness

Together, these outcomes reflect a broader transformation—from fragmented, manual certificate management to a unified, automated approach built on a modern digital trust platform.

A practical guide for IT and security leaders

While every organization operates in its own context, many face the same mounting pressures: shorter certificate lifespans, stricter compliance requirements, and increasingly complex environments. Forrester’s Total Economic Impact™ study offers a structured, data-driven approach to identifying where your organization can gain efficiency, reduce risk, and deliver greater value through PKI modernization.

This isn’t a one-size-fits-all blueprint—it’s a flexible model built to help leaders map modernization strategies to their specific needs and challenges.

Modern PKI that moves with your businessÌý

Forrester’s findings echo a growing consensus among IT leaders: Manual, outdated public key infrastructure practices are holding organizations back. ¶ºÒõ¹Ý ONE is built to solve for that, providing a unified, scalable platform that meets today’s operational demands and prepares you for tomorrow’s security landscape.Ìý

Explore the full TEI study to see how modernization could take shape in your environment.