Less than robust security, compliance and data privacy services can no longer be an option if MSPs are going to provide the level of technical support their clients need to protect data in the current threat climate. That is the consensus of MSPs, revealed in a new survey of North American providers, the 2020 Netwrix MSP Survey. In particular, the survey found the addition of an auditing solution to serve tightly regulated sectors like finance and health care proved to be highly effective in MSPs being able to improve compliance and security for their customers.
The majority of MSP respondents reported they are targeting regulated industries to grow their business, notably the professional services sector (legal, real estate) (66%) and the healthcare and financial sectors (64%). Thus, stepping up services in compliance and security is becoming more imperative to reach their business goals. It also maps to a previous global survey of 1,045 IT professionals which revealed that 74% of organizations named data security as their top IT priority for 2020, with automation coming in second at 54%.
All these survey statistics point to a changing MSP marketplace in which organizations are looking to obtain advanced security and multi-layered services from their providers rather than introduce more siloed services into an already complex, hybrid infrastructure environment.
Here are some of the recommended practices to win, grow and keep business, based on the MSP survey just released:
Expand Your Security Portfolio
Organizations, whether from small-to-medium businesses or large enterprises, are facing an unprecedented number of security threats, at the same time they are subject to complex privacy regulations. Those MSPs that added solutions for security and compliance on top of their standard offerings report they were able to increase customer satisfaction (51% of respondents), improve their reputation (44%) and ensure system uptime for customers (37%).
Increase Compliance Services with Auditing Solutions
Since regulated industries are a key growth opportunity for MSPs it makes sense to bundle as many services as possible to support compliance. Auditing is a critical process and those MSP respondents who offer auditing solutions or bundle them with industry-specific services report an 88% success rate in enabling their customers to easily meet compliance requirements.
Get Precise about Your Customer’s Needs
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for any customer, and for those in heavily regulated industries, an MSP needs to develop a security, privacy and audit service bundle that precisely matches their needs. Not surprisingly, the survey reported HIPAA (77%) as having the most impact on their customers. These organizations are also subject to GDPR and the CCPA. The ROI for this precision, respondents say, is increased customer satisfaction and a stronger, positive reputation in their target industries.
Better Leverage Vendors to Your Advantage
When seeking to understand target markets better, and make informed decisions on security, compliance and auditing solution options, vendors can be a valuable source of intelligence on technology, customer experience and network integration. They can help MSPs not only gain knowledge of advancements in security but also help an MSP close a sale by presenting the best possible solution to a customer. The majority of MSPs (64%) surveyed said that training sessions with vendors were the most valuable source of information about common use cases and successful implementation.
Up Your Marketing Game
In the midst of all these demands to bundle more services, it’s important to remember part of every day still needs to be devoted to growing the business. MSPs believe old-fashioned business networking (69%) is still an effective way to meet new vendors and expand their customer base. Providers also find testimonials and customer success stories shared by vendors to help open doors.
Compliance and Security Complexity Will Continue
Clearly 2020 will be another year of competitive pressures on MSPs to accommodate compliance and security needs for an enterprise community wanting to improve data security and data privacy without making operations more cumbersome.
The global IT survey found 44% of CIOs have integration projects on their wish lists. Integrating systems simplifies internal processes, reduces operational expense and enables organizations to get more value from the software they have, since siloed IT solutions require individual management and separate resources. MSPs need to keep this integration wish in mind when bundling services.
To fulfill these customer expectations working more closely with vendors can help identify the best technology route to take, and the most effective means of giving IT a bundled solution that comes with easy implementation and integration. That will be the path to more business! 
