MSP Security: An Emerging Opportunity

In our last article about security for MSPs, we outlined some of the threats that your clients are facing. But a threat for your clients is an opportunity for your MSP. Cybercrime represents a substantial potential cost for your clients, which means that they are willing to pay in order to avoid security issues. Cybercrime is a fast-moving field; not every MSP can be a specialist in security.

Now, if you’re interested in security as an added service, what’s the market for that like? Let’s take a look.

Cost of cybercrime is high

In a recent e-book, Kaspersky estimates that the enterprise loss on cybercrime is $1.3 million on average, and the SMB loss is $40,000 on average. That’s $3500 per month for an SMB. If you have a security package priced in triple digits, that’s a no-brainer for your customers, provided that you can help them avoid becoming the victim of cybercrime.

So is the opportunity

In his address at IT Nation, ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini provided further support for security as an emerging opportunity for MSPs. Very few MSPs actively engage in security practice. Literally, this is a service that every customer wants to get right, that has high potential ROI, and there’s almost nobody in the MSP space actively pursuing it? Get in first, and you’ll be a differentiated provider. Building your security competency before your competitors do is an area a lot of MSP experts are highlighting for 2017.

Some businesses have basically split off Managed Security from Managed Services as a separate practice. That means not just virus and malware protection, but training for staff, security testing, auditing and the creation of security protocols.

The importance of training

Another interesting figure: 42% of damages from cybercrime are traced back to internal sources. Employees are your biggest weakness when it comes to cybersecurity. Yet, it only takes a minimal amount of training to shore up this weakness — as little as five minutes per month. You can add a lot of value to your customers for a fairly minimal investment, precisely the type of ROI you are looking for.

Security specialization, an emerging MSP niche

Security specialization is definitely an opportunity worth looking at. Your clients are worried, and you can help. It’s not hard to offer value to your clients. Most MSPs offer something basic with respect to security, but few have taken the time to truly specialize in it. Yet, security is something that every client wants. Small businesses are increasingly being targeted by cybercriminals, specifically because their defenses are poorer than those in enterprise.

The next post in the series is a guest post from Mike Knapp of Incrementa. It will highlight some of the different revenue-generating activities for MSPs wishing to add specialization in security to their business, in order to further differentiate their service offering and further increase their revenue.

Thousands of MSPs rely on IT Glue every day to act as a central hub for all the information that they need to serve their clients and staff. IT Glue gets information out of your team’s heads, and stores it in a place where everyone in the organization can easily access it. Improve efficiency with IT Glue, boosting your ROI and enhancing your margins by eliminating waste.