MSPs Have Huge Opportunity In Security, But Be Ready To Work

Entegration CEO Art Gross.
Entegration CEO Art Gross.

The challenge for MSPs is to get educated, and use that deep know-how to close deals. Because there's no clear, dollars-and-cents ROI to security products and services, the traditional "unpack and rack" approach simply isn't going to work.

That opens up two potential problems for MSPs. Customers are going to demand not only a high level of knowledge and guidance, but also affordable pricing. The sales pitch has to be powerful and complete. MSPs have to be able to identify risks and offer sensible, complete solutions.

Gross arms himself and his partner MSPs with information like the fact that 60 percent of businesses that have a breach go out of business within six months. "Sharing real examples of SMBs or others in your vertical that had this problem" is a key tactic, he said.

Customers can be guided through straightforward risk assessments that result in detailed, meaningful reports written in plain English. MSPs can also offer training, and even cyber insurance policies.

BEI Networks is a Washington, D.C.-based MSP focused on the health care vertical, and one of Gross's channel partners. Its president, Mike Jennings, admits it can be difficult to get small medical practices onboard, but says developing the ability to hold the client's hand through the entire process makes for "a slam dunk sell."

"In the SMB space, there's not a lot of worry or concern about security beyond anti-virus," Jennings told IT Best of Breed. "Things like intrusion prevention, encryption and complex passwords don't get much traction."

Some practices even double down, Jennings said, simultaneously betting they won't get hacked and they won't get caught by regulators without required security policies and protections.

The most affective sales approach realizes managers tasked with buying IT services aren't necessarily businesspeople, and aren't necessarily tech people, either.

By walking them through a risk analysis, offering follow-on services and making the whole thing painless and affordable, many SMBs find it hard the deal difficult to refuse.

All the work, it seems, is done by MSPs, and they'll neglect it at their peril, Gross said.

"A lot of MSPs are at the forefront. They're embracing different services," Gross said. "But others are dragging their feet, and they're the guys who are going to get left behind, and by the time they see the revenue drop, it could be too late."