Technology solution providers (TSPs) have multiple objectives when selling endpoint security solutions. Foremost, you want to protect your clients, their data and their businesses from cyberthreats. You also want to build strong business relationships with your customers that will help you sell deeper and develop advocates that will help you win new business.
However, there’s another major reason that TSPs sell Solutions as a Service: You want to grow your business. Selling Endpoint Security as a Service can enable you to build recurring revenue. Retaining that revenue, though, is dependent on whether your customers reach an acceptable level of user adoption and recognize the value of the solutions you provide. Customers that don’t see value will churn.
Churn is not only discouraging and makes more work for your sales reps and onboarding teams; it’s also costly. Only a portion of revenues come from the initial as a Service sale—approximately 30 percent when you factor in deployment and training. Users that churn quickly can wind up costing money if they require a significant amount of attention during implementation.
The reality that customers can churn if they don’t see adoption and value, makes your choice of endpoint security solution pivotal. Your customers need an effective solution that employees will use so they can defend their systems and their data. And you need a solution that can help your business grow.
User-Friendly Endpoint Security Solution Features
Endpoint security solutions can include an array of components, such as:
- Malware detection and prevention
- Web browsing security
- Data classification and data loss prevention
- An integrated firewall
- Email protection to block phishing and other social engineering
- Encryption capabilities
Endpoint security solutions can, however, differ in user experiences, based on these factors:
- Integration and interoperability: Not every endpoint security solution is a good fit for your client’s IT environment. Take their hardware and devices, operating systems, email and other endpoint applications, operations, and business and remote locations into account as you choose the best endpoint security option for them.
- Automation: If the solution requires users to switch features on each time they want to use them or follow a series of time-consuming steps to send an encrypted email, chances are, they won’t do it. TSPs need to demo and then test solutions to ensure that user experiences are the fastest and frictionless as possible.
- Monitoring and Enforcement Capabilities: Security isn’t on every user’s mind all of the time—everyone gets rushed or distracted. The solution you implement for your customer should have the capability of ensuring users are following role-based permissions—and stop noncompliant behaviors when they don’t. The solution should also provide reports, allow you and your client to monitor user activity, and to decide whether to block specific websites, applications, or email content.
A Word About Endpoint Security Solution Management
As you choose an endpoint security solution, it’s smart to be forward-thinking and consider how you will build it into your Endpoint Security as a Service offering. How easy the solution is for you to manage will impact the overall user experience and value you provide your customers. Look for a solution that allows you to manage diverse endpoints, whether company or employee-owned and configure them remotely. It should also enable you to easily monitor activity, manage updates remotely, and integrate with your other business tools such as remote monitoring and management (RMM) or professional services automation (PSA). Also, ensure the solution has the capacity to handle the number of customers you provide managed services to and is capable to scale with your business.
Show Value and Build Long-Term Business Relationships
The bottom line is that you need a user-friendly endpoint security solution that keeps your customers’ systems safe, delivered with added value. Communicating that value to your customers is important. If the solution is totally effective, your customers may forget that it’s even there. Be sure you communicate the value of the solution to your customers, updating them on malware attacks that it has stopped, updates that you pushed remotely to eliminate vulnerabilities, and user activity that you’ve helped to correct.
On the other hand, if an endpoint security solution has the most advanced features but requires too much effort and education to use it, users will find a way around it. That could leave your client no more protected than if they had implemented no solution at all. Make user-friendliness a key feature of the endpoint security solutions you provide, help your clients maximize user adoption, and communicate the value your solutions provide. 
