Poised for the future: Key cybersecurity growth opportunities for MSPs

Organizations of all sizes and sectors rely on the expertise of MSPs to guide them through an increasingly complex cybersecurity threat landscape.

It’s an environment shaped by threat actors who can act fast and with great precision, using AI tools to improve the speed and efficiency of their attacks. This includes automated phishing campaigns, highly targeted identity attacks at scale, and even convincing deepfakes.

As the digital attack surface continues to expand, new security gaps appear and the opportunities for exploitation also rise. MSPs play a critical role in supporting customers in facing these challenges.

There are significant growth opportunities for providers that can offer scalable security, round-the-clock protection, and the advanced skillsets that customers need to be cyber resilient.

Supporting customers’ evolving needs

The near-universal need for support from MSPs was evident in research we conducted this year into the security challenges and experiences of organizations. For example, we found that 96% of the organisations surveyed were either already working with MSPs or planning to do so.

The reasons for this reflect the complexity that security teams face in protecting their ever-expanding network, applications, and sensitive data. We found that trying to support and manage an ever-growing number of – often disconnected – security tools was the main reason organizations turn to MSPs for help.

Many businesses are also looking for strategic support. Around half (51%) of the organizations surveyed are looking to MSPs to help them address the security challenges of growth. Nearly half (45%) would consider switching to another MSP if they cannot see clear evidence of robust security skills, expertise, and 24/7 support.

MSPs need to get their own house in order to win customer trust

In a competitive market, understanding the factors that influence customer relationships and hard-won trust is essential. This matters even more as expectations continue to rise, and customers increasingly rely on their providers to demonstrate strong security capabilities. Confidence in a provider’s security posture directly affects customer retention.

A security breach poses a serious threat to maintaining strong client relationships, with 40% of respondents saying they would change their MSP following a breach or other cyber incident.

Transparency between providers and clients builds trust, with 38% of decision makers concerned about MSPs that lack transparency around their own defences. It follows that providers that can demonstrate they follow the same best practices they recommend are better positioned to maintain long-term relationships.

Encouragingly, nearly all the factors that could derail a relationship are issues MSPs can address by investing in their own security resilience.