SolarWinds MSP: Cyberthreats Create Big Opportunities

Edward Gately

(pictured above: SolarWinds MSP’s John Pagliuca on stage at Empower MSP in Orlando, Oct. 26.)

SOLARWINDS EMPOWER MSP — With security increasingly top of mind among businesses of all sizes, there [are] real opportunities for MSPs to become managed security service providers (MSSPs), becoming their clients’ trusted advisor while increasing their own profit.

That was one of the messages conveyed during Day 1 of SolarWinds MSP‘s Empower MSP conference in Orlando, Florida. About 250 MSPs are attending the conference.

SolarWinds MSP’s John Pagliuca

SolarWinds MSP works with more than 20,000 MSPs and is recruiting about 4,000 more annually, said John Pagliuca, its general manager. More SMBs are turning to MSPs than ever before, increasing 5-10 percent each year — and there [are] more opportunities than ever, he said.

“Obviously the biggest one is where we’re going with security,” Pagliuca said. “You saw what happened yesterday with Bad Rabbit, so it’s real, and it’s here and now. And the difference is, it’s an SMB problem. The mom-and-pop doctor’s office, the mom-and-pop dentist’s office, the small, regional bank — they’re very much in the crosshairs of these hackers and these bad guys. So they don’t have the multimillion-dollar budget that some of these Fortune 1000 companies have … they don’t have a technologist like we have on staff. So what are their options? They now need to rely on the MSP.”

MSPs now can upsell security with their existing customer base, he said. SolarWinds’ offering allows MSPs to “go to that dentist’s office, that doctor’s office, that medium-size bank and say, ‘Hey, I can do it all for you,'” he said.

“The second one is, it’s an absolute greenfield for these folks,” Pagliuca said. said “Now they can walk into these midsize companies that might have some technicians, that might have an IT director and say, ‘Hey, IT director, let me be your CSO, let me make sure we have the whole security suite for you, and by the way, you can use our tools … we can monitor together. And good IT pros are now raising their hands and saying I need someone to be my trusted adviser, not just for the CTO, but for me, the IT director.”

The Tek, a small MSSP, conducted a session focused on managed security services and the opportunity they bring for all MSPs.

“If you’re an MSP right now, you’ve got to be looking at the security space,” said Rick Miller, The Tek’s chief business development officer. “Let’s face it, all MSPs offer some kind of security and they have been for the number of years they’ve been in business, but the security problem is getting worse and worse. And the security industry in 2020 is going to be $220 billion globally, so it’s a massive market.”

MSPs already have their customers and their trust, which is a “huge thing when it comes to security, so they’re really going to have to start looking to take that next step,” he said.

“They’re already thinking about it, but the problem is …

… their day-to-day jobs as being an MSP kind of get in the way of that because there’s so much going on,” Miller said. “And when they start looking at security, they [say], ‘Well, I’ve got to bring on people, I’ve got to bring on tools, I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to sell this to my clients because it’s not the same sale as an MSP would make. So there [are] so many different factors that go into it. It’s almost as if the MSPs need a bit of mentorship to get to the next level. So we’re going to try to help them figure out how to get from where they are today to at least get to a point where they can feel comfortable supporting SMBs.”

This week, SolarWinds launched Mail Assure, a cloud-based email malware protection and spam filtering solution that acts as a protective layer for all incoming and outgoing email. It is continuously updated with input from more than 2 million domains in more than 85 countries, while the Mail Assure spam and threat protection helps to shield users from email threats, the company said.

“The most vulnerable vector for malicious business attacks is email; according to recent research, 91 percent of cyberattacks and the resulting data breach begin with a spear phishing email,” said Greg Lissy, SolarWinds MSP’s vice president of product management. “Even if customers have a primary layer of security, as with Microsoft Office 365, Mail Assure provides an additional layer of defense to prevent spam, virus and ransomware attacks — providing users with increased reliability, email continuity and top-of-the-line email security.”

In August, SolarWinds MSP announced its purchase of SpamExperts, which provides email security solutions, including email archiving and filtering.