Kaseya Benchmark Survey Shows Cybersecurity Top Challenge for SMBs
When it comes to data protection, misconceptions still linger.
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Mike Puglia is Kaseya‘s chief strategy officer. He said it’s “very surprising” that only around 44% of respondents have automated patch management. This is a critical step in protecting the IT environment.
“We hope to see this number increase in the next year, as the risks will only continue to grow for those that do not,” he said.
When it comes to data protection, misconceptions still linger. While 82% understand SaaS applications like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Salesforce need to be backed up, 60% believe SaaS providers are responsible for data protection. Typically, the SaaS customer is responsible for their application data backups to ensure recovery in the event of a cyberattack or user/admin error.
“It’s a reminder that there’s a lot of education that still needs to happen in the IT sector around SaaS data protection since the organization is ultimately responsible for safeguarding their own data,” Puglia said.
Some 30% of respondents said there was not enough IT budget or resources to meet demands. Furthermore, 62% said their IT budgets were cut, remained the same or they were unsure of what their budget would be in 2021.
“While budget constraints will continue to be a challenge for SMBs, MSPs can position their offerings as a comprehensive and cost-effective solution for SMBs looking to better secure themselves,” Puglia said.
MSPs can offer to take on more time-intensive security tasks, such as ongoing cybersecurity training, and free up time for internal IT professionals that have been tasked with doing more with less over the past year, he said.
Cybersecurity solutions topped the list of what IT professionals plan to invest in for 2022. Fifty-three percent plan to budget for email security tools like phishing prevention. In addition, 33% are investing in ransomware protection.
Cloud technologies were also top of mind this year. Fifty-four percent said their IaaS cloud spending will increase and 36% anticipate growth in spending on SaaS applications. Cloud migration was also a high priority for respondents in 2021. That accounted for migrations across PaaS, IaaS and SaaS solutions.
IT professionals also want to increase their productivity through automation, which ranked second in top technologies for investment. Almost half of respondents said they will allocate funds for this in 2021.
Time-saving automation and integrations between key software solutions are crucial for IT professionals’ continued productivity and success, according to the survey. Half of respondents rated automation of IT processes through their endpoint management solution as important. Furthermore, 47% rated the ability to run automation scripts through their IT documentation tool as critical to their success.
Additionally, more than half of respondents said access to IT documentation through their service desk was crucial to their work.
“Automation and integrations allow SMBs to stop spending time on manual processes and focus on more strategic work to help move their organizations forward,” Puglia said. “SMBs should ensure that the solutions they use daily, like their IT documentation and ticketing platforms, have deep integrations that allow them to save time and streamline efforts. Additionally, IT professionals should look for solutions that easily automate crucial manual tasks like patch management.”
The survey presents several opportunities for MSPs, especially when it comes to cybersecurity and compliance, Puglia said.
“Many SMBs know that they need to better secure their environments, but may not have the resources to handle everything in house,” he said. “MSPs can work with SMBs to provide needed aspects like SOC as a service to allow their customers to get the protection they need at an affordable price. Additionally, with 38% of respondents stating they adhere to HIPAA guidelines and 33% stating they adhere to PCI standards, there are many opportunities for MSPs to provide compliance as a service to take the burden of compliance off SMBs’ plates.”
The survey presents several opportunities for MSPs, especially when it comes to cybersecurity and compliance, Puglia said.
“Many SMBs know that they need to better secure their environments, but may not have the resources to handle everything in house,” he said. “MSPs can work with SMBs to provide needed aspects like SOC as a service to allow their customers to get the protection they need at an affordable price. Additionally, with 38% of respondents stating they adhere to HIPAA guidelines and 33% stating they adhere to PCI standards, there are many opportunities for MSPs to provide compliance as a service to take the burden of compliance off SMBs’ plates.”
The latest Kaseya benchmark survey shows improving cybersecurity is the top priority for many SMBs in 2022.
Kaseya polled nearly 1,000 IT professionals at SMBs globally between April and May. It asked them about their top priories and challenges.
Kaseya’s Mike Puglia
The top three priorities for IT professionals are improving IT security, cloud migration and automation to increase IT productivity. The main three challenges are cybersecurity and data protection; lack of IT budgets and resources to meet demands; and legacy systems hampering growth and innovation.
This is Kaseya’s seventh annual benchmark survey.
Scroll through our slideshow above for more from the Kaseya benchmark survey.
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