At this point, the COVID-19 pandemic has left us with four hardboiled realities:

• COVID is here to stay. Even as we transition to the endemic phase of dealing with the contagion, it will continue to evolve and cause waves of infection and, potentially, business disruption.
• Most businesses that are still standing developed and deployed business continuity at scale in a mass experiment that left most of them far better prepared to deal with disasters than before the pandemic.
• The weak point in most of those business models is the security risks that came with connecting remote workforces from disparate locations, connections and devices. Since those models are becoming the norm going forward, mitigating those risks is essential to all businesses. For most—and for SMBs in particular—that means outsourcing.

Against this sweeping backdrop, MSPs are becoming essential advisors and distributors when it comes to cyber resilience. That means lots of opportunity for your MSP—whether it’s already steeped in security and cyber resilience or is just launching those product lines.

The provider partner you work with is essential to your success in both cases. Here’s what to look for:

• Channel Experience: This is a running theme at Resilience Zone that we can’t emphasize enough. Your provider partner must be able to deliver for your MSP—not just your clients. That means training, resources, a proven commitment to the channel and experience helping firms like yours succeed in the security and cyber resilience markets.
• Global Reach: This is another of our themes. Cyberthreats are global in nature and move at the speed of light. As soon as you dig into world-class threat intelligence paired with responsive artificial intelligence and machine learning power that feeds MDR and other forms of endpoint protection and the like, find that your provider’s reach matters. And if you have international clients now or in the future, you need operational reach to support your growing MSP.
• All the Core Resilience Services Needed for Work-from-Anywhere (WFA): For all the headlines and handwringing that cybercrime has brought about, most businesses are woefully behind the curve when it comes to adequate protection—especially among SMBs. Many clients still think simple antivirus and firewalls are enough protection. Others see major institutions and agencies hacked and believe there’s nothing they can do. But most are starting to take some action and are waking up to the need for at least endpoint protection. That’s a great step in the right direction, but most SMBs are still missing the boat in the other two layers they need to reach a truly meaningful reduction in risk—endpoint backup and security awareness training (SAT). Your resilience provider partner should be able to deliver all of them and help you educate clients and close business since education is such a big part of getting clients the resilience they need.
• Other Services that Make a Difference in WFA: Services like SaaS and Microsoft 365 backup can save your WFA clients lots of time and headaches, too. Your provider should be able to provide an integrated package covering all of these bases.
• All the other Protection. Even in our decentralized environments, most of your clients will have centralized infrastructure of some sort (even if it’s all in the cloud) and other protection, backup and restoration needs, depending on their business models. The only way to scale your MSP’s resilience practice effectively is to work with a single-solution provider that covers it all.

The Bottom Line

Your cyber resilience practice can be effective for your customers and lucrative for your MSP, but it all hinges upon your provider partner. You need one just as adept at helping you and your business as protecting your clients. That means a cutting-edge portfolio of services, scale to help you grow your business in size, scope and reach and a proven commitment to the channel.