Why web experiences need to balance speed and security

Odds are your web app or website will be the first impression of your business. 88 percent of people conduct online research before engaging with a company. Furthermore, three out of four people judge an organization’s credibility based upon on its website and 80 percent of consumers believe a company’s online experience is as important as its products or services.

In the past, companies could rely on controlled experiences: a well-crafted advertisement or gleaming storefront to build trust. Modern websites by definition deliver varied experiences depending on the user’s device and connection speed. As one example, a desktop user on Google Fiber might receive high-quality images and a live chat option; whereas someone with an old iPhone on congested Wi-Fi receives a stripped-down version of the site with lower-resolution images and no live chat. 

4 ways Instart improves web application performance and securityRelated Solution brief

Consumer expectations are at an all-time high

Today, a consistent web experience can be anything but consistent — it must be personalized to the individual. As a result, web teams rely on multiple cloud services and third-party tags to help them meet consumer expectations. While these services provide valuable insight and the ability to perform tasks that enable businesses to deliver dynamic, user-specific content — it also means that the final user experience is now assembled in the browser.

A good or bad web experience are often defined by how your website performs in the user’s browser, and consumer expectations are high:

• 57 percent of online shoppers started buying from a competitor who provided a better experience 
• Mobile users who have a poor experience are 62 percent less likely to purchase from that business in the future
• Consumers can form an opinion about your website in as little as 50 milliseconds

By visualizing and testing exactly how your experience comes together in the browser, you can optimize your website to maximize customer loyalty and profits. Instart gives you the tools to improve web performance for static and dynamic content regardless of the user’s device or connection speed. Create industry-leading, dynamic experiences with:

• Advanced caching 
• Automatic image compression and transcoding based upon device capability and connection speed
• A global caching and delivery network with worldwide POPs in every major population center 
• First, middle, and last mile optimizations
• Advanced edge logic to route requests, prioritize users, and add custom business logic 
• Data-driven insights on performance and loading times of third-party Javascript
• Proactive alerts when a third-party script misbehaves

Modern web experiences need to be both fast — and secure

While a fast and personalized experience is important, there is another aspect of web experiences that must be considered — security. In fact, over 60 percent of consumers value the ability to keep hackers from accessing private data more than companies using it for purposes they didn’t agree to. With the rise of data protection laws like GDPR, companies now find themselves struggling to balance the need for speed and personalization with ensuring their experiences are as secure as possible. 

For example, the average website uses at least 30 different third-party scripts, but it only takes one to create a problem. In 2018, British Airways suffered a breach via compromised third-party scripts that exposed thousands of customers’ personal data and resulted in a penalty of around $230M. If that’s not scary enough — more than 80 percent of mobile websites have at least one known JavaScript vulnerability.

And beyond third-party vulnerabilities, the web application threatscape is ever evolving and increasingly sophisticated. Not only do modern companies have to worry about malicious DDoS attacks aimed at taking down their apps — they must also find ways to fight sophisticated bad bots and browser-based threats that target vulnerabilities in third-party code while continuing to defend against the most common attacks that have been around for decades. 

Upcoming live webinarOctober 10, at 10:00 AM PDTDon’t let your security tools hinder web performanceRegister now

Take back control with Instart

Instart makes it possible to deliver the best web experiences — secure, fast, and personalized by providing complete visibility and control from application origin all the way to the browser. Using robust APIs, you’ll have continuous insights on security, reliability, and performance, in addition to the ability to test and view changes. 
In addition, the Instart Web Application and API Protection platform provides complete security to help you overcome the obstacles your applications face by bringing together leading bot management, JavaScript protection, web application firewall, and DDoS mitigation.

Successful companies have always catered to their customers’ needs. In today’s connected world, that means using technologies that can prioritize the customer’s experience, while still providing protection against the evolving threat environment and user privacy requirements.

Instart delivers world-class performance with full protection against the latest malicious threatsRequest a demo