If you have a client that knows what a Fortigate and an ASA are you have a good client.
There are a couple strategies I would recommend. First show them market share of each product. Then explain the origin story of Fortinet. Then I would explain the fact that the security of any device is greatly dependent on the skills of the team managing it and that Fortigate is your teams security stack leader for security appliances and they are most familiar with them and find them a better overall solution.
Of course at the end of the day the final decision is the clients but price margin is all your decision. I've managed both devices and while I agree that Fortigate is a better solution I would be fine deploying either if a client felt strong about it. Hope that helps.
Principal at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Jan 15, 2021
My clients are all very small, and pfSense works great for them. Other than past experience with ASA being difficult to configure without deep knowledge of the product, I don't know these products. Google Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco ASA came up with some interesting articles. The first on that list https://info.pivitglobal.com/r... makes FortiGate look pretty good.
Although it may seem simple to say, quality is price-related, but an expensive product is an expensive product and a quality product is a quality product.
Quality products are usually more expensive because they are related to the one who produces them, they are few people, more exclusive.
Expensive products are those for which a price is charged that does not meet the quality offered by some of the others for a lower price.
In short, there is no expensive or quality product, this is reflected in the needs they cover, if it is good product, because it covers my needs, it is an expensive product, even if its price is low.
You won't believe it, but this doesn't always happen, the cheap comes out expensive in the end.
Director Of Information Technology at a healthcare company with 1-10 employees
User
Jan 13, 2021
Cisco makes great gear, but I hate Smartnet costs as a budget manager. Cisco is actively abandoning the ASA line of hardware. It was not their most successful product with an assortment of issues.
We gave up on our 5510 and 12's long ago after bad updates and hardware failures forced us to change.
We are now using Fortigate 200F's with no issues whatsoever. This was not a difficult choice for us.
Networking Specialist at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Sep 15, 2021
A firewall is something very personal, depend on the company, the kind of traffic, for example, a hospital doesn't need the same features as a university. One needs to implement DLP and another organization doesn't have this need.
CEO at a computer software company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Sep 14, 2021
Unfortunately, many clients today are of that opinion, and much of it is due to Marketing strategies and the stories provided by each of the product's manufacturers.
However, that said, often, the most expensive product sometimes is the better product, but not necessarily the best to meet the requirements of the customer.
Do your proper analysis and be prepared to show your customer why you are choosing the option you have. Explain why your team has chosen the one you have, and not the more expensive option. Far too often, we find that the customer feels the option we are presenting is too high a cost, even if it is not close to the price of the most expensive, and we simply remind them, they are not buying a router, they are purchasing a security appliance, and therefore it is a very good investment in their system's security, they do not require some of the features or benefits offered by the most expensive product, so you have made the best suggestion to take care of them at a fair price.
If you can honestly recommend a product, you probably use it in your own operation, so remember to advise the customer of that.
Cisco Secure Firewall and Fortinet FortiGate compete in the network security solutions category. Fortinet FortiGate holds the upper hand due to its wider feature set and perceived investment value.Features: Cisco Secure Firewall provides robust threat intelligence and seamless integration with other Cisco products, offering a comprehensive security approach. Fortinet FortiGate leads with its superior threat detection and advanced firewall capabilities, including intrusion prevention and VPN...
If you have a client that knows what a Fortigate and an ASA are you have a good client.
There are a couple strategies I would recommend. First show them market share of each product. Then explain the origin story of Fortinet. Then I would explain the fact that the security of any device is greatly dependent on the skills of the team managing it and that Fortigate is your teams security stack leader for security appliances and they are most familiar with them and find them a better overall solution.
Of course at the end of the day the final decision is the clients but price margin is all your decision. I've managed both devices and while I agree that Fortigate is a better solution I would be fine deploying either if a client felt strong about it. Hope that helps.
My clients are all very small, and pfSense works great for them. Other than past experience with ASA being difficult to configure without deep knowledge of the product, I don't know these products. Google Fortinet FortiGate and Cisco ASA came up with some interesting articles. The first on that list https://info.pivitglobal.com/r... makes FortiGate look pretty good.
Although it may seem simple to say, quality is price-related, but an expensive product is an expensive product and a quality product is a quality product.
Quality products are usually more expensive because they are related to the one who produces them, they are few people, more exclusive.
Expensive products are those for which a price is charged that does not meet the quality offered by some of the others for a lower price.
In short, there is no expensive or quality product, this is reflected in the needs they cover, if it is good product, because it covers my needs, it is an expensive product, even if its price is low.
You won't believe it, but this doesn't always happen, the cheap comes out expensive in the end.
Cisco makes great gear, but I hate Smartnet costs as a budget manager. Cisco is actively abandoning the ASA line of hardware. It was not their most successful product with an assortment of issues.
We gave up on our 5510 and 12's long ago after bad updates and hardware failures forced us to change.
We are now using Fortigate 200F's with no issues whatsoever. This was not a difficult choice for us.
Meh... Both of them are very VERY overrated!!!... Nothing more frustrating than a client with Google....
A firewall is something very personal, depend on the company, the kind of traffic, for example, a hospital doesn't need the same features as a university. One needs to implement DLP and another organization doesn't have this need.
The same with web filtering, AV, ...
You have to fetch case studies to convince the client technically (bitter truth, whatever is successful has its cost).
Now the new era began - NGFW comes to the picture AI/ML-based only data sheets, then case studies only the key
Every security appliance has its own cons and pros (my observations only.
I'd use Gartner Magic Quadrant's leaders, other competitve data, references.
Look at attack data. Leaders are Palo Alto, Fortinet, Checkpoint... some things to look at.
Unfortunately, many clients today are of that opinion, and much of it is due to Marketing strategies and the stories provided by each of the product's manufacturers.
However, that said, often, the most expensive product sometimes is the better product, but not necessarily the best to meet the requirements of the customer.
Do your proper analysis and be prepared to show your customer why you are choosing the option you have. Explain why your team has chosen the one you have, and not the more expensive option. Far too often, we find that the customer feels the option we are presenting is too high a cost, even if it is not close to the price of the most expensive, and we simply remind them, they are not buying a router, they are purchasing a security appliance, and therefore it is a very good investment in their system's security, they do not require some of the features or benefits offered by the most expensive product, so you have made the best suggestion to take care of them at a fair price.
If you can honestly recommend a product, you probably use it in your own operation, so remember to advise the customer of that.
How do I convince a client that the most expensive firewall is not necessarily the best? --> don't waste your time.
In the client's eyes, you are not a trusted advisor. If you can manage both, just let them take the risk.
Netsecopen.org and gartner quadrant