As the VP of Channel Sales at inSOC, I talk to MSPs and MSSPs frequently to understand their needs, so we can provide the best SOC-as-a Service solution to help them succeed.
In today’s business environment, MSPs must offer cybersecurity services to stay relevant and competitive. But it’s challenging to convince customers of the value of these services and introduce them to your cybersecurity offerings. Meanwhile, the cost of hiring the right talents and building the capabilities in-house can add up quickly.
In this article, we’ll look at three simple steps you can take right now to overcome these challenges and sell your cybersecurity services profitably.
Step 1: Share These 10 Terrifying Cybersecurity Facts
Many businesses don’t grasp the value of cybersecurity services until they become victims of attacks and breaches. Educate your potential customers and share the latest statistics about cybersecurity to help them understand why the best defence is a good offense.
Folks at CompTIA have put together these 10 eye-opening cybersecurity facts every MSP should share with their clients to build awareness.
- 60% of small businesses that suffer a cyberattack close their doors within 6 months. In the worst-case scenario of an attack, a victim could lose their entire business.
- 90% of the total costs of a cyberattack are hidden. These include damaged credibility, loss of trust from customers, diminished brand reputation, higher insurance premiums, and increased debt financing costs.
- The average cost per lost or stolen record that involves customer personally identifiable information (PII) is $150. It’s even higher if a business is in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare and finance.
- The less prepared a customer is, the more expensive the remediation actions will be. Plus, remediating a ransomware attack could add an extra $150,000 on average!
- 29% of businesses that experienced a data breach lose revenue. Among those that do, 38% saw a drop of over 20%.
- If a company is found liable for leaking information, victims could request compensation — increasing the financial cost of the breach significantly.
- If an organization has broken a cybersecurity law (e.g., DCI-PSS, HIPAA, GLBA, GDPR), it may incur hefty penalties and fines. For example, HIPAA violation can cost $50 to $50,000 per record and GLBA can cost up to $100,000 per violation.
- If victims seek a settlement, a company will have to pay the legal fees, expenses, and filing costs in addition to the settlement. Not to mention, the legal process often drags on 3-5 years.
- A data breach costs an average of $1.52 million, with lost business accounting for 40% of the damage. Meanwhile, it takes companies an average of 207 days to identify a breach and 73 days to contain it.
- Human errors cause 95% of breaches, which can be prevented by simple measures, such as employee training and education.
Step 2: Get in the Door With No-Brainer Services
It may be hard for some companies to wrap their heads around higher-priced cybersecurity offerings or get the budget right away. However, you can offer a security assessment or employee training to help them get started.
An audit or assessment is a great way to introduce your services to potential clients. It gives you the opportunity to ask the right questions, generate awareness, and identify how you can deliver the most value.
For instance, simple questions such as “How would you know if someone has breached your server or if an unauthorized person has accessed your data?” can help get your potential customers thinking about their risk levels.
After an assessment, you can provide the client with a score and present a plan to mitigate the risks, address the grey areas, and strengthen its defence. Not to mention, the client will have a tangible document and a thorough understanding of the risks it faces to drive informed decision-making.
Meanwhile, employee training is a low-hanging fruit that offers high ROI for both the MSP/MSSP and the client. The fact that human errors cause 95% of all breaches makes this low-cost service a no-brainer for businesses of any size.
Step 3: Pivot and Build Your Security Team
Many MSPs that want to add security services to their offerings may wonder, “Is there a basic level of services we can offer?”
Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly complex. You need both proactive and reactive measures to strengthen defense and respond to alerts. All the pieces must work together in the proper sequence to cover all the bases.
It’s important to understand that MSPs and MSSPs are very different. To offer security services, a provider must have professionals with the appropriate certifications on its team (e.g., CISSP and CCIE.) Also, you need different processes, policies, skillsets, and frameworks to become an MSSP.
In short, it’s expensive to find new talents and change processes. Yet, offering just one piece of the cybersecurity puzzle isn’t sufficient to help your customers stay safe.
However, adding security services is an ideal growth strategy for MSPs in today’s business environment because companies seek a “single pane of glass” vendor. In fact, the main way that MSPs are gaining customers these days is by going onto the security front.
Simply put, if you aren’t doing it, someone else will.
How do I get started with MSP cybersecurity?
Adding security services to your offering not only helps grow your margin and increase your ROI but also opens up many new business opportunities.
To get started, understand your business model and assess your in-house team’s skillset. But most MSPs don’t have all the talents required to assemble a security team right away.
The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone.
You can hit the ground running by partnering with providers who have the right capabilities, so you don’t have to build an in-house team instantly.
inSOC’s SOC-as-a-Service (SOCaaS) is designed specifically for MSPs and MSSPs. We have made it as easy as possible to deploy and resell security services.
You can offer your clients a full range of services, including security information and event management (SIEM), vulnerability management, intrusion detection, incident response, and more, without investing in hardware or staff associated with running a security operations centre (SOC.)
Learn more about our SOCaaS and see how we can help you scale and grow your MSP and MSSP.
