Navigating SOC-as-a-Service Options to Accelerate MSP Growth

Leveraging a third-party partner with a global SOC and security analysts can offset the startup costs and accelerate your learning curve.

4 Min Read
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Many Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are adding cybersecurity and IT compliance offerings to their portfolio in order to generate incremental revenue, strengthen customer loyalty and improve profit margins. Per Statista, the worldwide market for managed services is forecasted to grow to $215 billion in 2020 with a compound annual growth rate of over 11%. MSPs looking to capitalize on this opportunity and grow their operation need to do so without the hurdles of staffing and retaining a team of security specialists, as well as investing in multiple layers of cyberdefense technologies.

SOC as a service (SOCaaS) is one approach you can use to add managed security services to your client base. While there is no standard definition of SOC as a service, many enable MSPs to provide network monitoring, threat detection, forensic investigation, and security information and event management (SIEM)–all on a software as a service (SaaS) basis. Leveraging a third-party partner with a global SOC and security analysts can offset the startup costs and accelerate your learning curve. The time and money needed to build your own SOC from scratch will be extensive, to say nothing of the challenge in hiring and retaining security professionals for 24/7/365 coverage. The SOC is a complex and often high-pressure environment, according to Forrester Research.

Key Capabilities and SOCaaS Benefits

Modern cybersecurity threats are evolving and morphing at a rapid pace. Small and mid-market businesses that face the same cybersecurity threats as larger enterprises, but often with smaller IT teams, are leading candidates for the SOCaaS approach. A world-class SOC armed with a comprehensive SIEM solution provides the visibility needed to detect advanced threats and quickly recommend effective mitigation steps. It offers the continuous visibility that detects threats early and reduces dwell time inside client organizations.

SOCaaS provides many benefits for MSPs as well as their clients:

 Optimize Existing Staff and Capabilities

  • Your organization may already be offering some type of security tools and point services such as vulnerability scanning or basic anti-virus. That does not preclude you from adopting SOCaaS to move up the tech stack and to position your business as a group of managed security experts.

  • Assess whether you have the time and expertise for a build-it-yourself SOC. Outsourcing your SOC may likely be the appropriate model for your organization and strategic priorities.

  • Embrace a managed SOC service with its 24/7 security analysts and comprehensive visibility to scale your managed security services without incurring significant up-front expenses and headaches.

  • Cybersecurity threats continue to evolve and mutate to capitalize on the latest security gaps, like zero-day threats. The bar is constantly being raised in this battle. SOCaaS allows you to provide valuable services without investing directly in what has been termed the “cyber arms race.”

Expand Security Efficiencies and ROI

  • Harness the complexities of machine learning, automation and threat intelligence so that you don’t have to invest finite time and money keeping up with the latest adversary tactics and security technologies.

  • Enable your IT staff to focus on other mission-critical activities instead of developing and staffing a 24/7 SOC.

  • Enhance real-time cybersecurity visibility with integrated SIEM and EDR that correlates vast amounts of log data into actionable threat detection.

  • Prioritize threats and eliminate false positives that waste valuable time that could be better spent on forensic investigation.

Increase Your Client Base and Revenue

  • Address real marketplace needs for subscription-based services so that your clients only pay for services they need.

  • Provide a service that allows clients to spend operating expenditure (OpEx) funds instead of hard-to-procure capital expenditure (CapEx) dollars.

  • Generate a more consistent revenue stream from annual subscription services than less predictable break-fix services.

The SOC has become the foundation for security analytics and threat expertise, combining people, processes, and technologies such as behavior analytics, intrusion detection, machine learning, and endpoint detection and response. While building an in-house SOC may be appropriate for some organizations with the resources, SOCaaS is both practical and affordable for the majority of MSPs.

Evaluating SOCaaS Options

SOC-as-a-Service can come in many shapes and sizes, so it is critical to evaluate your options carefully. A few things to look for in your managed security service partner are:

For MSPs offering managed security services, there’s a lot to love about SOCaaS capabilities from Netsurion. We provide a fast time to value to organizations seeking 24/7/365 monitoring by global security experts and reporting that is purpose-built for small and mid-market businesses.

To talk to Netsurion experts about our SOCaaS benefits, email us at [email protected].

Not a Netsurion partner? Learn more about the advantages of managed security at Netsurion today.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.

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