How channel partners support customers in a challenging security landscape

Concept art showing a woman pressing a digital padlock button representing cyber security on a blue background
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The UK cyber security sector is experiencing significant challenges with talent acquisition. A recent government study revealed that 50% of all UK businesses have a basic cyber security talent gap and an estimated shortfall of 11,200 people needed to meet the demand of the cyber workforce. 

The report — ‘Cybersecurity skills in the UK labour market 2023’ — shows that there is still work to be done to bring fresh talent into the cyber workforce. But this will take time.  

Chris Waynforth, general manager & VP for international business at Expel headshot photo
Chris Waynforth

Chris Waynforth is the general manager & VP of our international business. Chris is leading Expel’s expansion into EMEA, building on the early success with customers in the region who have seen the light and wish to re-do security the Expel way.

Chris commands over 20 years of experience in cyber security, helping some of the world’s largest banks detect and prevent cyber crime, as well as helping to stop Grinch Bots from stealing PS5s from online stores. As a successful sales leader, he has always led from the front with the support of his team.

Our own research — titled ‘The UK cybersecurity landscape: challenges and opportunities’ — shows that cyber security is one of the biggest challenges facing UK businesses today, underlining the fact that many organizations need urgent support now.  

While it is more likely that issues with recruitment, management, and learning and development are causing the perceived talent “gap” than lack of available cyber professionals, there is still an existing avenue to alleviate the strain it brings: channel partners.

IT and security teams need breathing room

The talent gap has a knock-on effect on businesses’ IT and security teams. Understaffed security teams create more pressure on existing personnel, and with cyber threats a constant risk, the pressure only grows for security teams.

Earlier this year, we compiled insights from 500 UK. IT decision-makers (ITDMs) to identify the challenges and obstacles cyber security teams are tackling. We found that 61% of ITDMs reported that they or a member of their cyber security team had experienced burnout due to cyber security risk management.

The cause? There are many, but one stands out: alert fatigue. Another industry buzzword, but for good reason. Alert fatigue happens when the barrage of security alerts constantly hitting an IT and security team’s queue becomes overwhelming. 

RELATED RESOURCE

The Autonomous Customer 2023

(Image credit: BT)

Read why some customers are frustrated with their digital experience & how to overcome this.

DOWNLOAD NOW

This can lead to analysts not investigating those alerts adequately, or even missing critical alerts altogether. Coupled with the huge responsibility of protecting their organization, it’s unsurprising that analysts can burnout. Our research found that over half (52%) of ITDMs agree their teams spend too much time dealing with unnecessary cyber security notifications.

We also found that, on average, more than a quarter (27%) of allocated security budgets went unused in 2022. This shows how many UK businesses aren’t making full use of their resources, even though their security teams are struggling.

In short, they need some respite — and channel partners can be the ones to provide it.

Actionable alerts

Vendors and channel partners have the potential to collaboratively address the problems security teams are facing — such as alert fatigue — and help customers find more value from their employees and tech stack.

To do this, channel partners should look at how they can provide more insight from the alerts that are delivered to security teams. This is a value add to customers as it ensures the alerts that come through are both accurate and actionable. 

Given alert fatigue is a contributing factor to employee burnout, channel partners with solutions geared around automated processes that deal with alerts can be a welcome lifeline to security teams.

Pointing to prioritization

Another time-consuming task for IT and security teams is tackling vulnerabilities

New and old vulnerabilities are exploited every year, and simply identifying which could be the most harmful is like finding a needle in a haystack — tedious, and generally a poor use of your team's time. 

This is where channel partners can step in, helping IT and security teams prioritize the most critical vulnerabilities before criminals and threat actors exploit them. 

Channel partners who offer prioritization solutions can not only find vulnerabilities but flag those that pose the greatest risk — helping teams take immediate, informed action.

Solutions like these also allow IT and security teams to understand the most urgent risk areas within their detection and response workflows. Investigation and remediation become swift, freeing their time to tackle more business-critical priorities.

Swift implementation 

One question does remain, however. If ITDMs are struggling with talent shortages and burnout due to alert fatigue, then why is it that businesses aren’t spending their entire allotted cyber security budgets

We can only speculate, but it could be due to a perceived lack of quick return on investment (ROI) on cyber security products and services. 

To alleviate this, partners can provide solutions and products that can be implemented quickly — providing immediate value.

With the right automations and solutions in place,  IT and security teams can get time back to focus on more strategic security tasks that not only help enable and advance the business, but also keeps personnel engaged.

This is how channel organizations show true value, guiding customers where they have gaps in both their tech and from a human perspective. 

Offering solutions that plug these gaps — particularly ones that directly address a reduced, stretched workforce — emphasize channel partners’ role as an invaluable resource and ally for any IT or security team.

Chris Waynforth
General manager & VP for international business at Expel

Chris Waynforth is the general manager & VP of our international business. Chris is leading Expel’s expansion into EMEA, building on the early success with customers in the region who have seen the light and wish to re-do security the Expel way.

Chris can’t believe that he has over 20 years of experience in cyber security, helping some of the world’s largest banks detect and prevent cyber crime, as well as helping to stop Grinch Bots from stealing PS5s from online stores. As a successful sales leader, he has always led from the front with the support of his team.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography & Digital Imaging from the Manchester Metropolitan University, and completed the High Contributor’s Programme at Cranfield School of Management.

Read more
3D glass wavy background. Science fiction or information technology concept.
How the channel can simplify cybersecurity to build trust and agility for SMBs
Hand holding glowing sphere with shooting off purple ribbons of light
The AI challenge for the channel
Two cyber workers with medium-dark skin tone, a woman on the left and a man on the right with his face from chin down obscured by a monitor, with code reflected in their glasses implying they work in cybersecurity or software engineering. The room is dark around them, but bright screens can be seen in the background.
Cybersecurity skills: Addressing gaps and challenges in 2025
Abstract big data picture spiral concept in blue on. black background
Navigating a shifting SMB channel partner paradigm
Business man running in between holes with red swirling arrow leading to the flag signifying the goal.
Seven pitfalls MSPs should avoid when building a resilient IT organization
Hand with a judge's gavel with in a futuristic background
How the IT channel can help on the route to cybersecurity regulatory compliance
Latest in Security
Ransomware concept image showing a warning symbol in red with binary code in background.
Healthcare systems are rife with exploits — and ransomware gangs have noticed
Application security concept image showing a digitized padlock placed upon a digital platform.
ESET looks to ‘empower’ partners with cybersecurity portfolio updates
NHS logo displayed on a smartphone screen in white lettering on a blue background.
NHS supplier hit with £3m fine for security failings that led to attack
OpenAI logo and branding pictured at Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.
OpenAI announces five-fold increase in bug bounty reward
Cybersecurity concept image symbolizing third-party data breaches with give padlock symbols and one pictured in red, signifying a security breach.
These five countries recorded the most third-party data breaches last year
Phishing concept image showing an email symbol with fishing hook.
Have I Been Pwned owner Troy Hunt’s mailing list compromised in phishing attack
Latest in Feature
A photo of UNSW's Sunswift 7 car pictured in front of Uluru in Australia's Northern Territory.
How UNSW’s Sunswift Racing and Ericsson achieved cross-country connectivity in Australia’s outback
Matt Clifford speaking at Treasury Connect conference in 2023
Who is Matt Clifford?
Open source vulnerabilities concept image showing HTML code on a computer screen.
Open source risks threaten all business users – it’s clear we must get a better understanding of open source software
An abstract CGI image of a large green cuboid being broken in half with yellow, orange, and red cubes to represent ransomware resilience and data encryption.
Building ransomware resilience to avoid paying out
The words "How effective are AI agents?" set against a dark blue background bearing the silhouettes of flowchart rectangles and diamonds to represent the computation and decisions made by AI agents. The words "AI agents" are yellow, while the others are white. The ITPro Podcast logo is in the bottom right-hand corner.
How effective are AI agents?
An illustration showing a mouth with speech bubbles and question marks and a stylized robot alien representing an AI assistant chirping away with symbols and ticks, to represent user annoyance with AI assistants.
On-device AI assistants are meant to be helpful – why do I find them so annoying?