5 Reasons You Should Lead With Endpoint Security
By Barry Beckner, Director of Worldwide Channel Sales, VIPRE
Endpoint security presents a big opportunity — maybe even responsibility — for solution providers serving as trusted business and IT advisors for small business clients. SMBs don’t have the skills necessary to recognize the risks associated with today’s advanced threat landscape and they want help. If you’re not already leading with endpoint security, here are five reasons to get you to think otherwise.
- It’s In The News
One recent article encapsulates everything about the channel’s opportunity into one tidy headline: Ransomware Attack Results In Loss Of 8 Years' Worth Of Evidence For Police Department. Using a cloned email to plant malware through a user’s click, criminals were able to hold the Cockrell Hill, TX-department hostage. How many customers do you have like that? Small organizations that can’t break the bank for a security solution, but could face severe consequences if an employee clicked on the wrong link. Incidents like these present a great opening for an endpoint security conversation. - Cross-Selling Opportunities
Are your customers protecting their environment from the endpoint in, or only from the inside out? Leverage your relationships to discuss their entire environment. What servers do they have? What other devices reach the network? Are they virtualized? What’s their mobile device management strategy? Once the door is open with endpoint security, chances are you’ll uncover additional, significant business opportunities — not only on how to protect endpoints, but how to help your customers develop a more holistic view of their entire environment and be more effective overall. - High Growth, High Margins
There have been more than 240 data breaches and more than one million records exposed so far this year alone. Clearly, hackers and other cybercriminals aren’t going to stop trying to access your records if there’s money to be made. For that reason, endpoint security continues to be a high-growth, high-demand industry. Security developers are constantly challenged to make sure their solutions are able to defend against malware, ransomware, and many other advanced threats that target companies every day. Hackers are getting more predatory. Whereas they used to be a nuisance, now they’re encrypting data and stealing and selling information for large profits. With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, there are even more ways for the bad guys to try to get in. - IoT Opens New Worlds
You’ve heard about hackers taking over everything from baby monitors to automobiles. If there’s a device connected to a network, it can be targeted. We all expect, and demand, connectivity for these devices, but as the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes a reality, it opens up exponentially more holes in security. Malware developers are actively seeking these additional vectors and end users may not grasp their risk. Partners tell us all the time IoT-based discussions and training sessions are eye-openers for their customers. The good news is the incremental training and educational revenue that accompanies such inquiries is most welcome. - Co-Management Opportunities
A trend accelerating in the managed security service provider world is co-management between MSSPs and their customers. Many SMBs can’t afford cybersecurity specialists to monitor their networks, so they have someone do it for them. The additional recurring revenue also brings partners much closer with their customers. A shortage in security talent makes these types of relationships even more valuable to customers. For many years, endpoint security was a commoditized product, but co-management is an opportunity for service providers to get more engaged, meet a demand, and establish themselves beyond price.
Leading with endpoint security presents a lot of opportunity, but it will take time and resources to get there. Educate yourself and your team about the new types of threats (you can’t even charge your phone at a public charging station anymore) and what solutions can solve what problems.
Small businesses typically are not sophisticated enough to handle this by themselves. They want to rely on solution providers to protect them and educate them. Partners that invest in themselves and start having discussions now are the ones that will benefit most. It’s unlikely the bad guys will hang up their keyboards anytime soon. But you can make it a lot harder for them.