‘The difference between success and struggle in the coming years will depend on whether you are proactive and disruptive or reactive and disrupted,’ says John Pagliuca, N-able CEO.
“Whether you’re a software provider, reseller or managed service provider, our growth algorithms are the same,” Pagliuca said from the stage at N-able’s Empower conference in Berlin, Germany, this week. “We need to land new customers, expand existing ones and retain them. But cybersecurity, specifically security operations and cyber resilience, plays a pivotal role in driving growth. When one of your customers faces a ransomware attack, whether you’re providing security services or not, their business is in jeopardy. That can directly impact your retention rates.”
He said MSPs can grow their business by 20 percent just by adding cyber resilience to their portfolios. “Adding a new customer is expensive, but expanding existing business is far more profitable,” he said.
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And he drove home that cyber resilience, not just protection, is the key to differentiation in the market.
“Customers are looking for ways to differentiate themselves,” he said. “Using incident response, vulnerability management and security assessments helps them land new business.”
It also requires a mindset shift. The CEO of the Burlington, Mass.-based vendor reminded MSPs that it doesn’t matter their company size, business type or expertise, cyberthreats are constantly evolving and no one is immune.
“There’s no magic pill for security,” he said. “It’s about a consistent regimen, a mindset shift. It’s not about ‘if’ you’ll face a cyberattack, but ‘when.’”
Planning and preparation are key, and so is disruption. Pagliuca shared a story of one N-able partner who “made the hard choices and disrupted his business.” He said the MSP shared that his only choices were to be disrupted or disrupt himself. He chose the latter.
“The difference between success and struggle in the coming years will depend on whether you are proactive and disruptive or reactive and disrupted,” Pagliuca said.
The strategy the CEO laid out to make that choice is a three-part framework: standardize, automate and augment. MSPs must standardize their offerings, tech stack and processes first. Then they need to automate as much as possible to reduce human error. And thirdly, they must augment capabilities by leveraging expert help when necessary.
AI can help with this, as well as blending IT operations with security operations. A siloed approach to those operations is a thing of the past, Pagliuca said.
“We can fight fire with fire by leveraging AI and advanced security tools,” he said.
John Krikke, vice president of Ontario, Canada-based MSP Onward Computer Systems, said Pagliuca is “on the mark” about focusing on cyber resiliency.
“We need to stop focusing on products and look at cyber resilience for our clients,” he told CRN. “It’s about having a defensive posture, rather than just products.”
