More SMBs Know the Threat Is Real
Channel Futures: Is it easier for MSPs to have that conversation with SMBs with ransomware and other cyberattacks drawing big headlines?
Sophos’ Scott Barlow: I do think it’s a lot easier to have the MSPs communicate to their SMB customers these days. The MSP has built a level of trust with that SMB. I’ll give you one example. We actually created a what we call a Sophos Managed Threat Response (MTR) opt-out campaign. It was actually sent to us by one of our fantastic MSPs out in Arizona. They basically created this opt-out letter that they sent to every single one of their customers saying we are going to be implementing Sophos MTR, this is why and here’s the threats that exist. If you would like to opt out of this service, please contact us. And that enabled that MSP to have the conversation, and they had 3% of their SMB customers pick up the phone and contact them. Ultimately, I believe it was 99% of their customers opted to go with a small increase in their monthly costs. They understood the reason why because the MSP very clearly outlined these are the new threats, these are how advanced these threats are and when you put hands on keyboard as a cyber attacker, it does get much more complicated from a remediation standpoint. And when that partner shared the opt-out letter with us, we shared it with our MSPs globally. The number of MSPs that we’ve had adopt that model has been astounding, and I’m talking on a global scale.