ASCII SUCCESS SUMMIT — MSPs need to hold their customers’ feet to the fire to implement cybersecurity in the age of hybrid work.

That’s according to ASCII Group president Jerry Koutavas, who shared data about hybrid work on Wednesday at the ASCII SMB IT Success Summit in Chicago. A live poll of the MSP and vendor attendees showed that 44% of companies will combine remote and in-office work going forward, while 20% will go fully remote and 34% will fully return to the office.

ASCII Group’s Jerry Koutavas

The data seem to indicate that people see the benefits of remote work. Even CEOs in Florida, one of the most open-for-work states, are decreasing their office space investment by 40% and increasing their technology investment by 80%, according to a study.

But that trend comes with challenges. Koutavas said one in four (25%) employees still don’t know how to properly use the collaboration applications that make remote work possible. Thus, MSPs can provide value by training employees to use these applications and help businesses monitor productivity.

In addition, long-term hybrid work expands the attack surface and makes cybersecurity more important than ever. If customers aren’t willing to take the threats seriously and make necessary investments, MSPs need them to sign a waiver. No one can afford to ignore the risk, Koutavas said.

“The big thing now is to make sure you’re pushing your clients to the nth degree. I know they don’t like two-factor [authentication]. I know they don’t like extra security precautions, but this is not a game anymore,” Koutavas said.

Attendees also learned about how to build a cloud practice and how to scale up their business.

Channel Futures attended this live, in-person event. Scroll through our slideshow above to see what other speakers had to say about MSPs, hybrid work and cybersecurity.