Microsoft Advocates Building a Cloud Security Practice with New Playbook

The managed security services market is expected to reach nearly $41 billion globally in just five years, according to Allied Market Research.

That represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6 percent from 2016 to 2022. North America is expected to represent the largest market for managed security services during that time. All partner businesses must have a security strategy and Microsoft is offering to help partners develop one.

Microsoft’s Melissa Mulholland

Microsoft just released its Security Practice Development Playbook, a 228 page-turner, written for partners to help them grow and develop a cloud security focused practice across Office 365, Windows, EMS, and Azure.

Security is a top challenge for customers as they transform their businesses and embrace cloud. And, according to a blog by Melissa Mulholland, cloud profitability lead at Microsoft, a growing number of companies are writing checks to buy cyber-insurance policies with premiums expected to triple over the next few years, reaching $7.5 billion by 2020.

“It’s becoming very clear, to customers and businesses alike, that a more secure cloud is essential to future success,” Mulholland wrote.

The security opportunity is exploding with increased cybersecurity threats as well as new privacy regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires significant changes by organizations, worldwide, regarding how they manage and protect personal data.

The new practice playbook was designed to help partners optimize a security practice and to understand why they should perform the guide’s recommendation. It includes chapters on strategy, hiring and training, operations, go-to-market and closing deals, optimizing and growing, plus additional resources from Microsoft and case studies.

The Microsoft Security Practice Development Playbook was written by Microsoft partner Solliance, an alliance of industry experts who team up to deliver end-to-end projects including architecture, project-management coding, testing, infrastructure management, security and operations, in conjunction with Microsoft One Commercial Partner and 21 additional partners who shared best practices.

In a company reorganization announced in January, Microsoft created, among other things, the Microsoft One Commercial Partner business, a combination of several partner teams within the organization, to be led by Ron Huddleston, corporate vice president of Enterprise Partner Ecosystem for Microsoft.