https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

From the Industry


Sponsor Content

image

Cybersecurity Is an Essential Part of the MSP Toolkit

  • March 13, 2017
With IT becoming table stakes for business success, and the threat environment growing, MSPs must become more than just a trusted advisor or partner.

With big data, analytics, social, mobility, cloud and IoT driving the move to Digital Transformation–also known as DT, digitalization, DX, DE (Digital Everything) and Industry 4.0–IT is moving from the back office to business enabler. However, all the things that make DT possible also make it more vulnerable. And with small and midsize businesses already facing a growing range of internal and external cybersecurity threats, combined with a shortage of skills and resources, partnering with an MSP becomes increasingly attractive.

That’s good news for MSPs, but how do you ensure you are profiting from this trend? How do you position your business to address the new realities that more than half of SMBs (55%) were victims of a cyber attack within the last 12 months and that 60% go out of business within six months of an attack?

The pundits talk about becoming an SMB’s business partner, strategic partner or trusted advisor, and all three terms make sense, as far as they go. However, I would argue that when you consider the vital importance that secure IT represents, much more is at stake than a partnership, strategy or trust. We’re talking about the success or failure of your client’s business, and that demands a more inclusive approach. This also happens to be good for you: The managed security service market, worth $17.02 billion in 2016, is expected to almost double by 2021 to $33.68 billion, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 14.6%.

The efforts to find, sign and retain a client aren’t easy, but it becomes much easier if you match your capabilities with their needs and desires. You’re looking for customers that will be profitable on an ongoing basis. They’re looking for a vendor who will address their requirements affordably and reliably, and preferably provide more than a monthly invoice. A part of that reliability–and added value–includes transparency, especially when it comes to cybersecurity: what are they paying for and what are they actually getting.

What services are you offering–that is, assessments, remote monitoring and management, antivirus, patching or backup and disaster recovery–and how are they being charged–hourly, weekly or monthly? What are the results of these services–such as attacks detected and prevented, patches and uptime–and how are the results being communicated to the customers. (For example, “We offer more than 100 built-in reports with our managed services platform, along with the ability to easily create custom reports.”)

In addition to executive summaries and more detailed reports, you should consider more strategic initiatives, such as quarterly or annual business reviews. These reviews can summarize activities and results to date, and identify areas where changes and/or improvements can be made. With the rapid evolution of IT and cybersecurity, your thought leadership and recommendations can extend a successful relationship and make the partnership more useful to your customers, and more profitable for you.

Understanding and addressing your customers’ needs and desires reliably and affordably will not only keep them happy, it will also open the door for additional revenue opportunities, including network optimization and strategic growth initiatives. Partnering, strategy and trust are all important; combing all three will drive your customers’–and your–success.

5 Onboarding Tips

The onboarding process sets the foundation for success between MSPs and their clients, and is typically built on discovery, advisory services and deployment. A best-practice approach should be rooted in efficiency and high value for the customer, and should include:

1. Put business goals first: Customers and their business goals take priority. It’s great to have technology tools and processes in place, but understanding business goals–such as customer acquisition and employee efficiency–can ensure the onboarding process is in line with what matters to clients’ bottom lines. For example, customers choosing a proactive service approach require patch testing and auto-approvals, server/workstation maintenance, predictive failure monitoring, and monthly reporting summaries to prevent customer downtime and minimize fire drills. Lead with business goals and your processes should follow naturally.

2. Create a standardized process: No one wants to undergo a 30- or 50-step onboarding process. Yet it’s important to ensure that appropriate security stages–monitoring, patching and maintenance, to name a few–are in place to protect you and your customer alike. Streamlining a multistep onboarding process is key to getting customers configured easily. Regardless, any technician should be able to go to the customer’s deployment and understand what was done–and not find that steps 15 through 20 were skipped.

3. Set expectations with customers: Many MSPs spend time talking with customers; however, a good percentage are not successful in completely understanding business needs, so no wonder they are challenged with delivering a package to fully meet requirements. Placing customers on specific service plans allows them to receive high-quality, high-value services according to a plan, and this also makes it easier for an MSP to communicate. Setting clear expectations and delivering to those expectations is a time-proven key to success.

4. Make security a priority: In today’s threat landscape, the greatest challenge is ensuring that strong detection and protection are put in place. Ransomware, compromised passwords and data loss can cause irreparable damage for businesses. Security begins with questions. Customers should be made aware of security best practices and how adopting a multilayered defense is the strongest approach to protecting their users, devices and data. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to security, but MSPs today have the solutions available and are in the best position to protect their customers from an ever-growing and advanced threat landscape.

5. Put reporting in place from Day 1: Continuing to prove the value of your managed services is critical. Start by showing a regular report of what has been accomplished (what you’ve patched, what malware you’ve caught). This gives your customer peace of mind, shows your effectiveness and can tie back to the business goals.

Learn how AVG Business by Avast can help MSPs – www9.avg.com/BuildTrustedNetwork.

Ryan Vallee is Product Management Lead, AVG.

 

Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs From the Industry Strategy Sponsor Content

Most Recent


  • New Chapter
    The Gately Report: SonicWall Partners to Play Big Role in Company's Next Chapter
    Meantime, a financially motivated threat actor is increasingly targeting hospitality, hotel and travel organizations.
  • Changing the Partner Conversation
    Advantage Communications, Pushing Agent-MSP Convergence, Lands Extreme Networks Partnership
    Advantage will provide white-labeled telecom life cycle management to elite Extreme Networks customers at no cost.
  • It will be alright
    It Will Be Alright: 10 Expert Tips for Surviving a Layoff
    Drawing from her own experience, Kathryn Rose explains how to watch out for your own best interests.
  • CwCJ Feature Size
    Coffee with Craig and James Episode No. 114: Zayo Group, Telarus Partner Summit
    We take a deep dive into the Zayo partner program with channel leader Lynn Tinney.

2 comments

  1. Avatar Erika Taylor March 22, 2017 @ 6:17 am
    Reply

    You are so right,
    You are so right, cybersecurity is a very important, yet still unexhausted topic and I am grateful for every single article about it. Thanks a lot for sharing!

  2. Avatar saara smith April 25, 2017 @ 9:07 pm
    Reply

    Good knowledge about
    Good knowledge about cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is necessary to our system because when we use internet in our system, if we don’t using it hacker can hack our important documents from our system.Is this website is right for providing cyber security AVG Antivirus Technical Support Phone Number

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • 5G
    5G: Revolution or Evolution?
  • M&A
    Why All MSPs Need to Understand the M&A Landscape
  • hurricane season
    4 Things MSPs Should Consider When Prepping for Hurricane Season
  • zero-trust
    The Benefits of Zero-Trust Security over VPNs

Upcoming Events

View all

MSP Summit

September 13, 2022 - September 16, 2022

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

May 1, 2023 - May 4, 2023

Galleries

View all

The Gately Report: SonicWall Partners to Play Big Role in Company’s Next Chapter

August 19, 2022

As Artificial Intelligence Advances, Is Human Error Holding Up the Contact Center?

August 19, 2022

It Will Be Alright: 10 Expert Tips for Surviving a Layoff

August 19, 2022

Industry Perspectives

View all

How to Take Shared Responsibility for Securing Cloud

August 11, 2022

Seize the Application Modernization Opportunity

August 2, 2022

A Growth Mindset: Your Organization’s Strategic Differentiator

August 1, 2022

Webinars

View all

Outsmarting RaaS: Implementation Strategies To Help Your Clients Before, During, and After a Ransomware Attack

August 23, 2022

Why it is Important to Upgrade Aging Servers and How to use Live Optics to Upgrade Efficiently

August 25, 2022

Executives at Home are Not Alright: An Intro to Digital Executive Protection

September 8, 2022

White Papers

View all

Work Goes Remote – (and Other Top ITOps Trends)

May 25, 2022

The New Bottom Line: How MSPs Can Meet the Healthcare Crisis While Evolving Their Businesses

April 19, 2022

How to build a Security Operations Center (on a budget)

April 4, 2022

Channel Futures TV

View all

ThreatLocker Preaches Zero Trust, Addresses Industry Competition

Microsoft Targeting Partners to Sell Teams, Windows 365 to SMBs, More

August 15, 2022

ScienceLogic Debuts New Partner Portal

August 9, 2022

Vonage a ‘Single Communications Stack Provider’ for Partners, Customers

June 27, 2022

Twitter

ChannelFutures

Now Available: Expo Pass to Channel Partners Leadership Summit & #MSPSummit this September 13-16! Take a look at th… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 19, 2022
ChannelFutures

How do you stay on top of your game? 💪 By connecting & sharing knowledge with other elite partners, ready to stay r… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 19, 2022
ChannelFutures

How do you stay on top of your game? 💪 By connecting & sharing knowledge with other elite partners, ready to stay r… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 19, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@NICELtd and @Microsoft have partnered to deliver personalized digital experiences via CXone on @Azure. @msPartner… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 19, 2022
ChannelFutures

For the team at @advantagecg, the recently announced partnership with @ExtremeNetworks is a validation of the partn… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 19, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@iamkatrose offers 10 tips for not only surviving, but bouncing back from a layoff dlvr.it/SWvYD6 https://t.co/YiKTzgpQa3

August 19, 2022
ChannelFutures

We are proud to announce Channel Partners events received a 12/12 sustainability score from our parent company,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 19, 2022
ChannelFutures

#CoffeeWithCraigandJames features Lynn Tinney of @ZayoGroup and @patrickoborn of @Telarus. dlvr.it/SWsl0t https://t.co/YjWTOIdJwm

August 18, 2022

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X