MICHAEL HERMAN , VP CHANNEL SALES , EMEA AND LATAM , NETSKOPE
MICHAEL HERMAN , VP CHANNEL SALES , EMEA AND LATAM , NETSKOPE
PETER GEYTENBEEK , DIRECTOR EMEA CHANNEL AND DISTRIBUTION , DELINEA
Managed Services Providers and Managed Security Services Providers can significantly reduce the risk of downtime , disruption , and compliance issues caused by security breaches . With security-focused expertise and more advanced tools , they can detect
threats and respond more effectively to security incidents than overworked and often under-resourced in-house IT teams .
Contracting an MSP means handing the keys of the castle to an external team sitting somewhere in the world and entrusting them with direct privileged access to critical systems , key applications , sensitive data , and much more .
For MSPs , following protocols based on the zero-trust approach and enforcing security practices , such as least privilege and just-in-time , is paramount , but it is not easy to do that when they operate in situations where only a few applications and systems have enforcement capabilities . There are also many operational aspects to consider from the outset .
For example , how will the MSP ’ s teams get authenticated when working on the customer ’ s systems ? Will employees who need access have individual accounts , one for each platform , which will be removed when no longer needed ?
There is a huge opportunity for managed services companies in the Middle East . We see global trends reflecting across the region , with organisations struggling to keep up with new technology innovations , retain in-house engineering talent , and manage multiple solutions to protect their data and networks .
They are looking to benefit from turnkey security solutions such as security services edge , SSE and broader Secure Access Service Edge , SASE architectures that deliver integrations , deployment , and ongoing administration .
These transformations present an opportunity for partners as part of a managed services offering , if they are capable of developing skills to implement , deploy , and optimise customer environments independently ; ensuring proper deployment and a quick time to value .
For channel businesses building or expanding their managed services practice , success is contingent upon both technology and onboarding . Look for vendor partners that provide a multi-step programmatic journey for incoming MSP partners , and who offer not just initial training , but also ongoing training , dedicated support , and MSP focused tools and resources .
The challenges these companies face is how can they scale their business to provide
Or will the MSP staff use shared accounts , as commonly happens ? It is quicker and cheaper but makes identifying who accessed the system more challenging , as recording sessions will only indicate what the connected user did but not who the user was .
While individual accounts solve the access issues , the challenge becomes what can be accessed and what data is visible . Not every MSP staff member working on the same
these services , do they have the technical expertise to support these services , and do they have the budgets to onboard , train , support and scale their resources to tackle the ever-expanding threat landscape ? By looking at the trends via numerous industry reports , these challenges will continue to grow with global cyber-attacks rising by around 7 % in Q1 2023 compared to the same quarter last year .
When building the security stack , MSPs need to ensure they are providing services to address their customers ’ needs and challenges along with providing the best vendor solutions to specifically help solve these challenges along with ensuring they have as many vendors as possible that can integrate together giving a 360 degree view and protection .
platform needs the same type of access . Furthermore , what would prevent them from looking at sensitive data while performing their tasks ? Even if it happens inadvertently , it could create a severe compliance problem . Will a clear separation of duties be in place ? Lastly , with digital transformation keeping pace , MSP ’ s staff will operate most of the time remotely . How will remote access be secured ? •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 53