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

Security


Rob Rae Build IT Live 2022

Datto’s Rob Rae: There Are No Dumb Questions About Cyber Resilience

  • Written by Allison Francis
  • July 28, 2022
Rae, who is the SVP of business development for Datto, a Kaseya company, cited massive opportunities for the channel.

BUILD IT LIVE ’22 — Position your cybersecurity offering “at a grade five level.” That’s advice from Rob Rae, senior vice president of business development at Datto, a Kaseya company, on stage at IT By Design’s Build IT LIVE conference this week.

“The MSP industry is a $185 billion market right now. We are in the golden age of managed services,” said Rae (pictured above). “We are experiencing it and thriving. And we will continue to do that, if we do it right.”

So what does “doing it right” entail? Having the right conversations, and not being afraid to ask dumb questions. 

“We [in the managed services industry] can be very technical in nature,” said Rae. “When you try to talk to an end user about those technical things, meaning tends to get lost. And I think we take that for granted. I’m the guy who asks the stupid questions over and over again, and I’m not afraid to do it. I’ve actually learned throughout my career that the more dumb questions you ask them, the more you will learn.“

As time goes on, similar to the cloud conversations and SaaS conversations, the messaging is getting more and more clear. The end-user market is starting to understand those things a little bit better. So, when you sit down in front of a prospect to talk about cybersecurity, Rae says, there is power in your messaging, and your positioning. The key is to position your security offering at a grade five reading level.

The MSP Opportunity

“Now more than ever before, this is a massive opportunity for all of us,” said Rae. “You talk about the possible impending recession … we’re all still making money. The pandemic, same thing. A lot of us thrived despite that, and we’re still thriving. There is an insane amount of money flowing through this industry, again, despite all the changes.”

Essentially, the pandemic was good for business. The Y2K scare was good for business. The cloud emerging was good for business. According to Rae, this is another moment that will be good for business, which MSPs need to take advantage of. 

What do SMBs think about? Remote work, digital transformation, shifts to the cloud, and more. The whole industry is dealing with talent shortages, consolidation, and of course, cyberattacks. 

Determining Value

In terms of cyber resilience strategy, what is the value of what you do? What is it that you deliver to your end users that they need the most? Rae pondered.

“When you ask yourself that question, a lot of you might say, “breaking down technology, helping [the end user] understand technology, something like that,” said Rae. “But in essence, it all comes down to education. It is the knowledge and information that you have in your head. That is the most valuable asset that you have for your ultimate end users. If you can get that out of your head and translate it into “end user speed,” you’re going to win. That is where the value of what you’re doing, what they’re paying you for, comes in. And you need to constantly reinforce and be that expert in your area. Be that expert in your town; be that expert amongst your client base.”

There are three massive cybersecurity opportunities in the channel, according to Rae. We will cover the top two here. 

Cyber Resilience

Not cybersecurity — which is an important distinction. Cyber resilience is different because of the way it’s positioned.

“Everybody is going to get attacked at some point,” said Rae. “Is there anybody out there telling their clients they are 100% safe, 100% of the time? Anyone who does is lying; it would be a massive mistake to say that. So instead, cyber resilience is more of a score. We’re essentially saying, ‘If you follow my instructions, I’m going to make you as safe as possible. If you don’t follow my instructions, you’re probably not going to be as safe.’ And you deal with this all day with your clients. And they balance how much they want to pay versus how secure they want to be that cyber resilience.

The Work-from-Anywhere Model

The pandemic obviously threw things into chaos, and few expected such a huge shift in where employees work.

“Some people are going back to the office; some people are not,” said Rae. “Some people want to continue to work from the beach, from the cabin, from the lake house, from the boat, whatever the case may be. And what you need to do is continue to take a look at the technologies you’re investing in to make sure they are thinking along those lines. Part of the problem in the past was we were all protecting the castle, which is where all of your people were. You did everything you could to protect people by building the best castle you possibly could. And then, everybody had to leave the castle, and ran to their grass huts. And all the bad guys know the little piggies are in the grass huts and are not in the castle. We need to make sure that we’re securing those grass huts just as well as we did that castle, whether they stay in their house, or whether they go back to the castle.”

3 Elements

Cyber resilience involves three key elements — identify, protect, detect, respond and recover. There are still gaps, whether it’s on the provider side or the end-user side. But it’s time to get serious about these things. The stakes are too high, emphasized Rae. MSPs need to get comfortable saying, “If you’re not serious about this, I can’t be serious about this.”

MSPs must shift to the right path of adaptability and maturity, and cyber resilience. Revenue should double because the value of what they’re giving customers should also double. There is more diligence and work that needs to be done, because forecasts show the growth opportunity is massive.

Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Allison Francis or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Tags: MSPs VARs/SIs Best Practices Security Technologies

Most Recent


  • Restructuring
    CEO on Rackspace Restructuring: ‘We’re Excited About … 2 Business Units’
    Kevin Jones gave analysts some insight into upcoming changes at the giant managed service provider.
  • application portfolio modernization
    Adaptiv Networks' SD-WAN Joins OTG Consulting Portfolio
    Adaptiv Networks SD-WAN will help OTG agents move customers from PSTN to UCaaS.
  • Black Hat logo
    Black Hat USA 2022: DNSFilter, NetWitness, BlackBerry, CrowdStrike, More
    The event marks the 25th Black Hat USA.
  • partner portal
    GoTo Promotes Chief Product and Technology Officer to CEO
    He will accelerate innovation and growth in the SMB space, the company said.

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

  • cybersecurity
    Data Security Provider Nullafi Launches First Channel Partner Program
  • growth 8
    Cohesity Taps Former VMware COO as CEO, an 'IPO Value Prep' Move
  • Top 20
    Top 20 Stories in July: AWS Protest, Layoffs, Verizon Roadshow, Microsoft, Zoom
  • Cloud analytics
    Google Cloud Unveils New Cloud Analytics Project for Improved Threat Detection

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

Black Hat USA 2022: DNSFilter, NetWitness, BlackBerry, CrowdStrike, More

August 10, 2022

Samsung Unpacks Galaxy Z Fold4 Foldable Phone with Multitasking PC Features

August 10, 2022

Images: Telarus Hosts Partner Summit, Gives Partner, Supplier Awards

August 5, 2022

Industry Perspectives

View all

Seize the Application Modernization Opportunity

August 2, 2022

A Growth Mindset: Your Organization’s Strategic Differentiator

August 1, 2022

Timely Tips for Non-Negotiable Patch Updates

July 29, 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

ScienceLogic Debuts New Partner Portal

August 9, 2022

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

June 27, 2022

IBM, Partners and the $1 Trillion Hybrid Cloud Opportunity

June 26, 2022

Twitter

ChannelFutures

Read about @adaptivnetworks's new distribution partner. dlvr.it/SWQFh3 https://t.co/az12SeMU7X

August 10, 2022
ChannelFutures

A succession crisis has been brewing in the channel. Are you thinking about how to develop leaders?… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 10, 2022
ChannelFutures

Looking for clues about the upcoming #Rackspace #restructuring? We have a little insight from yesterday’s earnings… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 10, 2022
ChannelFutures

Ready for more @GoogleCloud in #AsiaPacific? Find out where channel partners will be able to take advantage of new… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 10, 2022
ChannelFutures

[email protected] has been a key figure in both the TSB market and the channel DE&I community. @Telarus… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 10, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@SamsungMobileUS launches new #GalaxyZFold4 and Galaxy ZFlip 4 at #SamsungUnpacked. dlvr.it/SWP38j https://t.co/nY6KLrk1E4

August 10, 2022
ChannelFutures

#BHUSA kicks off with news from @DNSFilter, @NetWitness, @BlackBerry, @CrowdStrike, more. dlvr.it/SWNvrj https://t.co/oDI6vf5CdX

August 10, 2022
ChannelFutures

Get to know @ScienceLogic and its new channel leader ahead of @MSP_Summit. #MSPSummit @Channel_Expo… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 9, 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