(Pictured above, left to right, at Channel Partners Evolution, Oct. 11: Channel Futures’ Kris Blackmon, moderator; Scott Barlow, Sophos; Michael Deskewies, CounterTack; and Mike LaPeters, AlienVault.)

Cybersecurity represents a massive opportunity for MSPs if they pursue it the right way and avoid costly pitfalls.

That’s according to a panel of channel chiefs from top security suppliers during last week’s Channel Partners Evolution. They talked about what they look for in an “all-in-on-security” partner.

Mike LaPeters, AlienVault’s vice president of global channels, said for MSPs, it’s all about knowing “what you’re getting yourself into and understanding that they’re going to have an issue with skills.”

“You need to make sure you train people correctly, make sure you enable them correctly,” he said. “And then understand that when you get engaged with this, you need to make sure you’re building service offerings that resonate and are relevant.”

Partners will build service offerings they think customers want instead of sitting down with those customers and asking them what they want and how much they would pay for it, LaPeters said.

“The fact that we work with 500-plus MSSPs … we have an interesting insight into those from the very smallest to the very largest,” he said.

Michael Deskewies, CounterTack’s vice president of strategic partners and channels, said the opportunity to sell security services is significant for MSPs, and they need to “actually look at the vendors that have a platform that can integrate all of the security technologies for ease of consumption.”

“And then, it’s really just using the products themselves to make sure they’re aware of how to deploy, how to manage and how to support those products,” he said. “And then leverage the vendors for marketing resources, different technologies, and ensure that they’re taking advantage of all the technical capabilities as well from an integration standpoint.”

Scott Barlow, Sophos‘ global vice president of MSP, said MSPs have no choice but to move into managed security services. MSPs already are losing customers to MSSPs because they’re not meeting their cybersecurity needs, he said. 

“This is going to be about customer retention and value-add going forward,” he said. “So I think one of the first things they’re going to have to start investing in is educating themselves on the market and then building a business plan to address that. It’s going to happen pretty quickly because the market’s moving fast.”