Without providing strong online security, MSPs shouldn't expect to hang onto their clients for long. But cybersecurity is more than just a box to check for MSPs. Rather, it’s a real opportunity for MSPs to differentiate themselves, boost profitability, and become known among their clients as a provider who truly takes their success to heart. Here are a few ways in particular security solutions can be keys to success for MSPs and their clients.
1. Perform vulnerability assessments and provide remediation recommendations
Some companies unknowingly operate with gaping holes in their cyber defenses. For a subset of these, those vulnerabilities have long ago been exploited. Even breaches that affect device performance can go unnoticed for long periods within organizations. Offering vulnerability surveys, either at the start of a new relationship or as an add-on service, can go a long way toward building solid business relationships. Deliverables for the ideal vulnerability assessment include the identification, documentation, and proposed remediation of any security weaknesses discovered during the review.
2. Provide cloud-based endpoint security backed by machine learning and behavioral analysis
Plain and simple: Effective endpoint protection leads to fewer man hours spent remediating infections for clients. Even with today’s threats coming from all angles—emails, browser windows, phony apps, social media posts, etc.—cloud-based, multi-vector protection running lightning-fast scans can mitigate risk and contain breaches while remaining virtually invisible to the end user. We've seen time and again how these hours aggregate into real savings for MSPs.
3. Offer better internet productivity and security
More often than not, small businesses don't have the resources to monitor their employee's internet use. Social media browsing, downloading files from peer-to-peer sites, and video streaming drain more than your network's bandwidth. They eat up mental bandwidth as well. By offering DNS protection with acceptable-use policies configurable at the site, group, or individual user lever, MSPs can help business owners can take control of internet usage. Not to mention block 90% of malware at the domain level, before it ever even reaches an end user.
4. Offer specific consultations like over security vulnerability and ransomware strategy
By virtue of the space they occupy, MSPs have unique insights into emerging cybersecurity threat trends, the products that can help address them, and how those products can be most quickly and painlessly implemented. Being able to advise that only 35% of companies remain profitable for more than a few months after permanently losing access to essential data, for example, and that ransomware is on the rise as a preferred method of attack, makes you a trusted advisor for your clients' firms. Knowing which products will offer the most effective protection, and how to manage those products, makes you invaluable.
5. Offer end user security awareness training
According to IBM's Cyber Security Intelligence Index, 95% of all successful cyber attacks are enabled by human error, and 91% of all attacks begin with a user falling for the bait in a completely avoidable phishing attack. For MSPs, end users can either be the first line of a network's cyber defense or its weakest link. Security awareness training empowers companies to decide which it will be. What's more, MSPs offering security training can be a lifesaver for businesses required to meet industry-specific compliance obligations.
Interested in learning more about making your MSP business stand out? Contact Webroot today or learn more about our Partner Edge program with exclusive tools and resources for MSPs.
Guest blog courtesy of Webroot. Read more Webroot blogs here.
