Cybersecurity, AI and the increasing complexity of tech can individually be a key issue squarely on the minds of IT service providers (ITSPs) and other tech companies today, but when all three become intertwined—and accelerate—then it’s enough to keep a business leader up at night.
So how should ITSPs handle all the external forces reshaping and pressuring their business? Investments, partnerships and finding ways to simplify are three answers that can help unlock opportunities and navigate through disruptive times, according to executives on a channel leaders power panel at ChannelCon EMEA called “Executive Perspectives on Innovation and Growth Across EMEA.”
Invest in Cybersecurity
Hosted by Carolyn April, GTIA vice president market research and intelligence, the panel touched on all three subjects, including an eye-raising statistic from GTIA’s forthcoming Channel Trends in Cybersecurity research report: Just 33% of UK & Ireland ITSPs say cybersecurity is a core competency to their business. The majority said cyber is complementary, said April. “Today, cyber should be table stakes, and you really have to offer more advanced cyber. Is it acceptable for 33% say it’s core?”
Guy Hocking, group managing director at Utilize, an ITSP based in the UK, said it is not.
“That’s a staggering stat. that’s crazy. If a customer has a breach, they’re coming to me for an answer. Our security team is not a security team. It’s baked into all our processes. I think customers expect that. It’s a given we’re securing their network in what we do,” Hocking said. “But if you walk into any expo, it’s confusing. Maybe that’s what’s driving that statistic. It’s hard to know what tools, what services, where to invest.”
Jason Magee, CEO at Cynet Security, said it behooves ITSPs to invest in cyber, AI and other innovative solutions or else they risk being left behind.
“It’s a team sport. One reason why I’ve been in this industry so long is because we share best practices, and what’s not working. We come together in peer groups and communities,” Magee said. “So, get to know your team. Match up with other ITSPs to make sure that when it hits the fan, you have people you can call to help you out. Vendors, peers, in the same neighborhood or across the country.”
Simplify the Complex
One reason ITSPs may be reluctant to build cybersecurity as a core part of their business is because of the increasing complexity of tech. Phylip Morgan, senior vice president of marketplace and channel expansion at Pax8, said it’s an issue ITSPs must face head on.
“Complexity is not going away, it’s accelerating. It favors things to be complex,” Morgan said. “The ability for service providers change is going to be a huge era to navigate, as only 9% to 10% of all data is currently in the cloud. The airline you fly, the data is in some legacy server system. As we get more of that data from older ERP and back-office systems to get into the cloud, we will be able to service better. That brings more complexity.”
ITSPs that stand out in the future will be those that simplify the complex, said Greg Jones, senior vice president of MSP enablement at Kaseya/Datto. “It’s about how you deliver faster value for customers. Tech is super important, but customers don’t care about the tech. A lot of it is commoditized. It’s how we lean into the tech, how you deliver the value and create business impact that makes the difference.”
Lean into Advantageous Partnerships
As far as where ITSPs should make strategic investments, start by understanding your skills and complementing them, either internally or externally, said Hocking.
“For us, you have to understand what you show up for. If you have a vertical you know inside out, that really helps to get to understand customers’ business and apply technology to help them with business issues,” he said.
Added Morgan, tech businesses must deliver impact and value to customers, not the latest products.
“We have to be delivering outcomes for their business. You’re not tech providers, your outcome providers,” he said. “We saw that when we were asked to deliver work from home. The conversation we encourage for every ITSP is to drill into whatever corporate vision your customer has and what their data strategy is to fulfill that. If you ask customers what their data strategy is, most will give you a blank stare. But without a data strategy you can’t do governance strategy, and you can’t do cyber strategy.”
Assess your current capabilities in house and respond on that, added Jones.
“What do you have as a skill set or resource to put into the business? “Do you have money to train? Or do you outsource that? I know some incredible MSPs who outsource nearly everything. They’re very agile and very profitable. You can have best-of-breed in-house, but it might take nine months to build a resource where can get it in online in five clicks within minutes.”
“Relationships will drive growth of your business,” added Magee. “Those ITSPs with strong relationships, doing QBRs, will be more successful than others. And those that have people skills will be more successful.”
