Getting it right: 4 criteria to strongly consider when selecting an EPP

By Daniel Ramos, Justin Buchanan · October 23, 2023

The process of selecting an Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP), whether it's your first implementation of this critical technology stack or a replacement for an existing solution, is a decision that demands meticulous research and thoughtful consideration. This decision has far-reaching implications for safeguarding your organization's digital infrastructure and sensitive data.

As you progress toward making this pivotal choice, make sure you consider these four factors as part of your research and evaluation:

1. The breadth of offerings available from the vendor.
2. Third-party efficacy testing that emulates real-world use.
3. The overall adoption of the product you're considering as measured by market share.
4. Endorsements from your industry peers with first-hand experience leveraging the solution

Trellix has a proven track record that aligns with all four of these key criteria. In the following sections, we'll delve into each in depth, shedding light on their significance in the context of EPP selection.

The breadth of offerings available from the vendor

Defending against the relentless attackers of today requires cybersecurity solutions that provide protection for the wide variety of potential threat vectors across the diverse types of environments in the modern IT ecosystem, including those in the cloud, on-premises, or requiring hybrid deployments. In response, leading vendors are bringing their offerings and partnerships together as an extended detection and response (XDR) solution. When effectively designed, XDR delivers improved visibility and threat detection across the extended enterprise and reduced incident response times.

As your organization plots its path to the adoption of XDR, the best place to start is by implementing the critical foundation of EPP. To learn more about this approach check out the recent paper from IDC “Maturing Endpoint Risk Management Leads to XDR Success” here.

You will also want to look for a partner that has the breadth of solutions necessary to set you up for XDR success. Choosing a vendor that can provide you with an EPP and a wide breadth of solutions that complement that investment enables your organization to gain efficiencies by consolidating the number of cybersecurity vendors you partner with. According to Gartner, 75% of organizations are pursuing vendor consolidation. Consolidation reduces the time that it takes to resolve complex issues that span across multiple products by reducing management consoles and support contracts. These efficiencies and a reduction in licensing complexity frequently result in cost savings.

Trellix is the vendor with the most inclusions across all capabilities and subcategories featured in the Gartner Tool: Vendor Identification Matrix for Endpoint Protection Platforms, 2023.

Not only does Trellix have the widest breadth of offerings, but the products also boast the best in the industry efficacy, as proven by third-party testing.

Third-party efficacy testing that emulates real-world use

Lab testing is an important way to evaluate the efficacy of a potential cybersecurity product. When determining the lab tests to use during your research, consider tests that account for how the solution will behave during your real-world day-to-day operations.

Critically, be sure to look for evaluations that demonstrate the solution’s ability to not only detect threats but also minimize false positives and safeguard performance. We find SE Labs, AV-Test, and AV-Comparatives effective at emulating how the product would perform during real-world use.

In the Endpoint Security: Enterprise 2023 Q2 report SE Labs awarded Trellix Endpoint Security a AAA rating, with Trellix achieving a perfect record in both Protection Accuracy, our ability to block malicious activity, and Legitimacy Accuracy, our ability to limit false positives by correctly identifying legitimate activity that could be misidentified as malicious. Read more about the SE Labs Endpoint Security: Enterprise 2023 Q2 on the Trellix blog.

Trellix Endpoint Security achieved Top Product designation in the AV-TEST Windows 10: June 2023 evaluation with perfect scores across protection, performance, and usability. A perfect score for usability in an AV-Test report is achieved by producing no false positives. View the results for the AV-TEST evaluation on the Windows 10: June 2023 report page.

AV-Comparatives released their Business Security Test (March – June 2023) where Trellix Endpoint Security demonstrated leading protection results and very low false positives, receiving the AV-Comparatives Approved Business Security Product Award for July 2023. Trellix achieved the highest scores for malware protection with zero false positives on common business software.
Business Security Test 2023 (March – June)

The overall adoption of the product you're considering as measured by market share

Most cybersecurity buyers make their buying decisions with an expectation of a five- to ten-year commitment to the solution that they have selected. As a result, when evaluating potential solutions, it is critical to choose a company that clearly demonstrates stability, sound investments, and pragmatic strategy. An effective way to determine organizations that can be relied upon for their stability is by looking at the adoption of their products and overall market share.

While the Trellix brand is new, it is the result of the merger of two industry titans. Trellix has decades of experience delivering world-class products that have enabled us to establish a strong foothold. Long-term customer loyalty has landed us the position of 3rd-largest EPP vendor in the Gartner Market Share Analysis: Security Software, Worldwide, 2022.

Endorsements from your industry peers

Endorsements from your peers with first-hand experience leveraging the solution is a critical criterion to consider when evaluating potential EPP solutions. An excellent source of this information is Gartner Peer Insights. This resource provides anonymous but vetted endorsements and reviews from security teams and practitioners just like you who have hands-on experience leveraging the solution you are evaluating. Reviews cover product capabilities and the entire technology life cycle, including evaluation, implementation, and service & support.

Trellix is the vendor with the highest number of reviews on Gartner Peer Insights EPP as of October 17th, 2023.

Best Endpoint Protection Platforms Reviews (EPP) 2023 | Gartner Peer Insights Insights

Trellix is the highest-rated vendor (rated 4.9/5.0) in the Gartner Peer Insights EDR market based on reviews in the last 12 months.

Best Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Solutions Reviews 2023 | Gartner Peer Insights

How Trellix stacks up

When evaluating cybersecurity solutions, you need to consider four key factors: the breadth of the vendor’s offerings, third-party efficacy testing, market adoption of the solution, and endorsements from industry peers.

Let’s review how Trellix stacks up:

Think Trellix might be the right Endpoint Protection Platform for you? Contact us today to set up a demonstration.

Disclaimers:

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant, and Market Guide are registered trademarks and service marks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences with the vendors listed on the platform, should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Sources:

Gartner Tool: Vendor Identification Matrix for Endpoint Protection Platforms, 2023, Chris Silva, Max Taggett, Satarupa Patnaik, 14 August, 2023.

Gartner Market Share Analysis: Security Software, Worldwide, 2022, Shailendra Upadhyay, Ruggero Contu, Elizabeth Kim, Swati Rakheja, Nat Smith, Rahul Yadav, Mark Wah, Akshita Joshi, Sean ONeill, Lawrence Pingree, Rustam Malik, 23 September 2023.

Gartner Peer Insights Endpoint Detection and Response Solutions market
Gartner Peer Insights Endpoint Protection Platforms market
SE Labs Endpoint Security: Enterprise 2023 Q2 Report
AV-TEST Windows 10: June 2023 evaluation
AV-Comparatives Business Security Test 2023 (March – June)