With cyber threats mounting, security is one of the top IT concerns for SMBs and large enterprises alike. And just as those businesses are turning to cloud providers to cut costs and simplify operations in other areas of IT, security increasingly is being outsourced to managed security service providers.
According to PWC’s 2016 Global State of Information Security Survey, 69% of enterprises today use cloud-based cybersecurity services. If as an MSP you are not already in the managed security business, your competitors likely are. So not only are you missing a major opportunity to grow a new revenue stream, but you could be challenged to compete against MSPs that already have made security a core part of their portfolios.
And security concerns are growing. More than 30% of organizations said they suffered a security breach in 2015, according to a recent survey by IT security specialist Foursys. Fifty percent of respondents said they are “not properly equipped” to handle such attacks. An outsourced, cloud-based security solution is particularly suited to such enterprises. They not only need security software, processes and expertise—they need it in short order and without the requirement (and cost) to bring those capabilities in-house.
So the question is ’How can I best leverage this opportunity to become a managed security service provider?’
Consider taking advantage of outsourced cloud economics yourself and resell another MSP’s managed security service
A couple of approaches stand out. One option is reselling a branded service, taking advantage of your partner’s security reputation to jumpstart your own security offering. Alternatively, many managed security service providers offer white label options, which will allow an MSP to quickly offer cloud security services under their own name. In either case, partnering with another (often larger) MSP can be a good way to add a high-margin security service to your portfolio without having to make a major capital investment ahead of revenue.
