Ask an MSP Expert: The value of offering security assessments

Q: What are some ways that we, as an MSP, can showcase the value of our managed security offering to our customers?

The importance of a strong cybersecurity offering and maintaining a security-centric posture for MSP businesses is more important now than ever before. The truth is, you really can’t thrive in today’s heightened cyberthreat landscape without offering cybersecurity services that is weaved into the very core of your business, and into the core of each of the services you offer.

To showcase the value of your managed security offering isn’t just about sending reports indicates there were no attacks detected or how many malicious attacks were blocked by your security services, you need value-added reports that indicate the improvement of your customer’s security postures over time. This requires periodic, continuous security assessments.

There are many security assessment solutions in the market with some that includes extensive scanning on the Dark Web, and more. Before selecting a solution though, you should evaluate to see if adding a new solution is required to achieve your goal. By adding on a new solution, your team will have to learn a new solution and it may cut into your profit margin if your customers don’t see the benefit of adding continuous security assessment to their services.

Leverage your RMM for continuous security assessments

MSPs rely on a number of resources to run their businesses and deliver services – and one of the most fundamental tools most MSPs use is a remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform.

The value of an RMM to an MSP’s goal of driving efficiency and business growth is also well documented. However, not all RMM tools are created equal, as some have specific features that offer its own unique benefits.

Such is the case with Barracuda RMM and its security assessments for customer sites. This is the only RMM on the market that features a built-in site assessment functionality and makes it easy for MSPs to regularly conduct assessments that identify any vulnerabilities existing in a customer’s security and alert them to make the necessary, recommended changes.

Security assessments create new opportunities for MSPs

Security assessments go beyond the initial identification of existing gaps, which by default uncovers sales opportunities. Even more important, it enables the MSP to address those gaps. MSPs can continuously run these assessments as additional measures are taken and time goes by. Not only will this highlight any new vulnerabilities that have emerged, but the reporting generated will also illustrate the progress the MSP has made in resolving previously identified weak points in the customers’ security.

Thanks to the security assessments generated by the Barracuda RMM tool, MSPs can approach their customers and begin cybersecurity conversations, referencing the results from the assessments to illustrate the need for greater protection in vulnerable areas. The assessment results bolster an MSP’s credibility with their customers, along with the MSP’s ability to apply cybersecurity best practices to their customers’ sites and networks. MSPs can also use the security assessments to help their customers set up individual roles for their employees or leadership team as part of a plan to stay vigilant against cyberthreats from penetrating their defenses moving forward.

To go with this, these MSPs can offer assistance in defining required cybersecurity policies for individual end-users at their client organizations, citing the security assessment results to help do so. Once the policies and recommended technologies are defined, service providers and their clients can move to implement the suitable services needed to meet the security policies and requirements.

Building a stronger MSP business

It’s important to understand the importance of security specific functionality that is built into the tool itself. When an MSP is already monitoring the customer’s entire environment, it makes the additional measures they want to take from a security perspective more streamlined, which makes the MSP more efficient and frees them up to do other value added activities for the customer.

Another benefit of functionality like site security assessments included with your RMM tool is they can aid in building horizontal and vertical cybersecurity compliance, in part by filling the role of a consultancy service that the MSP can offer.

Of course, site security assessments are just one important feature within an RMM tool for MSPs to improve their cybersecurity offering with. A comprehensive RMM solution that offers cybersecurity capabilities to protect as many threat vectors as possible will provide the most value to managed service providers and their SMB customers as well.

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