It is clear that more and more security is being delivered as a service. End users want to pay for security in the way they pay for other areas of IT – by consumption and with the ability to scale it, says Dave Ellis, VP security at Tech Data, talking to IT Europa at the London Managed Services Summit on September 18.
But MSPs may have to decide whether to become security specialists or to offer an aggregated service.
A distributor can help package solutions, he says. “End users want to buy a business outcome so it needs to be pitched in the right way. In the past security was very much a technology discussion; now channels are dealing with very different people in the customer organisation. Security is top of mind for business owners. The sales message has changed.”
“We have had a number of discussions today with partners who want to dip their toes into the security market. Entering and building their own service can be a big investment – a security operations centre and a 24x7 service with a help desk is expensive. We have had a lot of interest from people who want to sell our RECON Security Suite which gives a quick return with reduced risk. In Q4 we aim to launch a way for our partners to become managed security services providers. This will be a very consultative programme, with security not being so much about a technological change as being based on business processes and changing the business model.”
MSPs can work in a number of ways – either investing themselves or working with a trusted supplier. The options are open depending on where they want to go and how they see themselves.
An added package helps MSPs with any skills base – telephony for example – to offer a platinum service with security wrapped in – there is a lot of interest from those types of provider who want to differentiate what they offer, he reports.
The shortage of expertise in cybersecurity is also driving this as SMBs in particular can’t afford the skilled people. If they can work with a provider who can do this, they will.
“We’re seeing more partners in the channel morphing into either specialist security service providers, or becoming aggregators who can take a service from a trusted partner – someone who can take ownership of design, installation and delivery of the service since this can be a substantial cost to the channel. It allows them to enter the market and the trends are driven by the technology and a push for the SMB customer to become secure,” he concludes.
Meet Tech Data again at the Managed Service Summit North in Manchester on October 30
