A new Kaspersky report has revealed that despite the global rise in outsourced IT and IT security functions, organisations in Europe are still not fully relying on the expertise of their managed service providers (MSPs).
One in two (51%) MSPs struggle to persuade customers to adopt the best-fit solutions they put forward. Thiscomesdespite the fact that a lack of internal IT security expertise is one of the main drivers to outsource services.
The MSP market has grown rapidly over the last few years, with Gartner predicting that the worldwide public cloud services market will grow 17.5% in 2019 alone. This is reflected in Kaspersky’s Maintaining MSP Momentum: Challenges and opportunities in an evolving IT security landscape report, as 31% of surveyed companies already outsource cybersecurity, and 21% more are planning to do so in the next 12 months.
Acquiring expert IT knowledge is one of key drivers for organisations that choose to outsource their IT security services. In fact, the report from Kaspersky has revealed that a third (32%) of companies with less than 500 employees outsource IT security because they lack internal expertise.
This reason to outsource is clearly logical — unless customers still want to do things their own way. As a result, MSPs can face challenges when recommending services to their customers. They often feel unable to convince their clients to adopt a recommended solution, with nearly a third (30%) identifying disagreements with customers as a main pain point for their business.
In some cases, a lack of IT security skills on the customer’s side brings another challenge for MSPs. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of MSPs believe users are the source of the majority of IT problems and 69% feel that users not following security policies presents an issue for client security. MSPs can help reduce these risks by acting as advisors and providing the necessary expertise required to put the right solutions and processes in place, to improve cybersecurity protection.
“While it can be a challenge for MSPs to ensure their customers choose recommended solutions, it is still important for them to provide the best possible advice and arm clients with everything they need to make an informed decision and adopt the right services for their needs. Organisations are often driven to outsource services because they lack internal IT systems or security knowledge, but the relationship still needs sufficient investment and understanding, for both parties to get the most out of it. Any disagreement or reduced budgets should not come at the cost of compromised IT security. MSPs can be key advisors to their customers by offering sought after expertise, and with an expanded list of solutions they can help businesses stay secure,” comments Ivan Bulaev, Head of Global Channel at Kaspersky.
MSPs can benefit from a dedicated offering of cybersecurity products and expertise through the Kaspersky Partner Program. Kaspersky has a broad portfolio for MSPs, allowing them to help their clients deploy either on-premise or cloud-based solutions, starting from endpoint protection and expanding to hybrid cloud security. To improve cybersecurity expertise, special training, educational materials and offline events are available for Kaspersky partners.
The full Maintaining MSP Momentum: Challenges and opportunities in an evolving IT security landscape report is available on the Kaspersky website. For more information about the Kaspersky Partner Program for MSPs, click here.
Research methodology
The findings in the Maintaining MSP Momentum: Challenges and opportunities in an evolving IT security landscape report are taken from two data sources:
- Telephone interviews conducted with 101 MSP employees in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Sweden and Denmark
- Kaspersky Corporate IT Security and Risks Survey 2019 – an annual, online survey of business IT decision makers across 23 countries. This report focuses on the responses of those working in businesses across Europe, with under 500 employees
