In recent years, traditional cybersecurity resellers have shifted their focus. Once, they concentrated on offering point vendor solutions; now, they are either introducing new managed security services or enhancing their existing ones.What are the key factors behind this strategic move?

• Recurring revenue model – Managed security services provide a steady, recurring revenue stream, as opposed to the one-off transactional revenue from selling point solutions. This model offers greater financial stability and predictability, which is appealing to businesses.
• Changing market demand – Many organisations are increasingly recognising the complexity and dynamism of the cybersecurity landscape. This means they prefer ongoing managed security services that can adapt to evolving threats, rather than standalone products that may become obsolete or insufficient over time.
• Customer retention: Managed security services foster longer-term relationships with clients. Offering continuous service and support builds trust and dependency, which can lead to higher client retention rates (compared with the frequent ‘one-off’ nature of point solution sales).
• Complexity of cybersecurity: The increasing sophistication of cyber threats means that simply installing a security solution is no longer sufficient. Businesses are looking for comprehensive, managed security services that not only addresses current needs, but also evolve with changing threats.
• Lack of in-house expertise: Many businesses, especially SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), lack the in-house expertise to manage complex cybersecurity solutions effectively. By outsourcing these services they can gain access to expert skills and up-to-date technologies – without the need for significant internal investment in training and development.
• Value-added services: Managed security services allow resellers to offer a broader range of value-added services; such as 24/7 monitoring, incident response, compliance management and strategic security planning. This approach helps differentiate resellers in a crowded market.
• Strategic focus: Businesses are increasingly focused on their core competencies and prefer to outsource functions (like cybersecurity) to trusted partners. This allows them to focus on strategic initiatives rather than operational challenges in security management.
• Regulatory compliance and data protection: With the growing emphasis on compliance and data protection standards (such as GDPR and HIPAA), organisations are more inclined to seek managed security services that can ensure ongoing compliance with these evolving regulations.
• Scale and efficiency: Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can leverage economies of scale and advanced technologies (like AI and machine learning), to offer more efficient and effective security solutions than most organisations can achieve in-house.
• Risk management: Continuous monitoring and management of security services help in proactive risk management. MSPs and MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers) can implement a more strategic approach to security, enabling clients to identify and mitigate risks before they become critical issues.

More resellers are moving towards managed security services

As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, it’s likely that we’ll see even more resellers moving towards managed services. This shift not only aligns with the growing and changing needs of their clients, but also increases their own business value and strengthens their long-term future.

SecurEnvoy: trusted partner to MSPs

SecurEnvoy is a multi-award-winning Cyber Security Vendor, specialising in Identity Security. Having recently celebrated 20 years in business, we are a trusted partner to more than 300 organisations and businesses around the globe. For more than a decade we have empowered both MSPs and MSSPs by providing world-class software solutions to deliver comprehensive managed security services; enabling them to develop and offer their own managed Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) services to their clients.Listening to stories from our partners over the years, we’ve come to know of a plethora of technical and commercial challenges. A recurrent theme was vendors demanding significant upfront commitments, often necessitating a sizeable licence purchase that could be divided and resold to numerous clients. This model posed significant challenges for MSP leaders, requiring them to predict service success and subsequently formulate a compelling business rationale for board approval. Alternatively, when vendors did not seek upfront investments, they often stipulated stringent contract length and minimum volume conditions; again, putting pressure on the partner to try to forecast the success of the service. If the last few years have shown the world anything, predicting the future is not easy, and the best laid plans can be easily disrupted.

Our ‘pay-as-you-go’ system

At SecurEnvoy we view our managed services provider agreements as a true partnership between vendor and MSP or MSSP; with a shared risk between two committed parties and an onus on both organisations to make the service a success. By avoiding traditional licensing and term stipulations, we champion a pay-as-you-go, automated consumption billing system. SecurEnvoy invoices to MSPs are based on actual usage, ensuring that partners are not penalised during slower uptakes or client attrition. Essentially, no usage means no invoicing.Beyond commercial advantages, we have focused on creating an extremely flexible platform. Partners can choose either to consume as a SaaS offering, hosted by us the vendor; or deploy in their own data centre or private cloud environment. A highly flexible management and administration approach has been established, catering for any ‘parent/child relationship’; allowing large MSPs to manage small MSPs where required.

Flexible means fully customisable

The flexibility doesn’t end there. Whether partners opt for SaaS or a self-deployment model, our MSP platform is fully customisable. From overarching brand-centric settings to intricate adjustments for individual accounts; logos and landing pages to themes and even favicons: everything is adaptable.

A robust suite for a solid foundation

MSPs may start by offering a standard access management service from SecurEnvoy, managing user identities and access policies. This provides a solid foundation for integrating supplementary security services, such as EDR, XDR and comprehensive threat intelligence. Such a robust suite empowers clients to identify potential threats swiftly and efficiently, invoking automatic risk mitigation. For instance, if threat intelligence tools detect compromised credentials, immediate actions like password change prompts, or enhanced authentication for critical resources, may be triggered.

Listening. Evolving. Empowering.

For two decades, SecurEnvoy’s commitment to a comprehensive channel model, covering both standard solution resale and managed service partner support, has been unwavering. With our listing on the London Stock Exchange AIM reinforcing our governance, our medium-scale vendor stature guarantees responsiveness, aligning seamlessly with partner requirements. Our dedication to listening and evolving our services has not only been pivotal in our own growth and longevity but empowers our partners along the way.

Published: 28 November 2023

Category: Product Updates

Access Management / Cloud / On-premise