The hidden cost of tool sprawl on the channel

The cybersecurity industry is awash with products.

Every time a new attack technique is discovered, vendors will rush to develop a product to address the challenge.

Whether it be malware prevention, privileged access management, next-generation firewalls, or email security platforms, the industry is flooded with platforms promising to improve defences and make it harder for attackers to infiltrate systems.

But in reality, this has made security very noisy.

Instead of improving security, the volume of tools organisations must manage has actually amplified risks.

There are too many alerts coming in to understand and identify threats quickly. Too many platforms to manage, which overburdens resources and amplifies costs, and too many interfaces to navigate, which makes managing security far from seamless.

Overall, while the objective of the platforms is to strengthen security, the products can actually jeopardise it.

However, these problems are significantly worse when it comes to Managed Service Providers (MSPs).

Tool sprawl in the channel

Consider an MSP delivering security services to 50 customers.

One customer may use Microsoft security technologies, another CrowdStrike, while others could have different SIEM, vulnerability management, ticketing, and endpoint security platforms.

However, the MSP is often forced to operate them all.

All simultaneously, and all expertly, knowing the capabilities of each platform and how to operate them.

The MSP must maintain the knowledge, processes, and integrations required to operate across all of the platforms they manage for their clients. However, not only does this create resourcing challenges it also amplifies costs.

There is the cost of purchasing each platform that clients depend on, plus there is the cost of employees to manage the platforms.

Furthermore, with MSP staff continually navigating between platform interfaces, this wastes valuable time, reduces productivity, and can make managing security for clients more cumbersome.

Individually, these delays can appear insignificant. However, across hundreds or thousands of incidents, tickets, and customer interactions, they quickly accumulate.

Plus, as an MSP grows its customer base, the challenges can become even harder to manage.

When growth introduces more complexity

Every business wants to grow its customer base, but for an MSP this can also mean introducing more tools into their environments.

If every new customer introduces another combination of technologies, integrations and processes, onboarding customers also introduces additional operational complexity.

Providers can find themselves in a position where growing the business requires continually adding more people to manage the additional workload.

This has obvious implications for margins, but it can also put pressure on existing teams.

Skilled cyber security professionals are already difficult and expensive to recruit. Using their time to perform repetitive administrative tasks or manually move between disconnected platforms is neither efficient nor sustainable.

Ultimately, the channel therefore needs to look beyond simply adding more technology and consider how existing technologies are operated.

There will always be customers that want or need different technologies. Channel providers therefore need to find ways to embrace this diversity without allowing it to dictate how efficiently they operate.

But how can this be achieved?

The importance of technology-agnostic platforms

One of the best ways to overcome this challenge is by working with partners that deliver technology-agnostic platforms that simplify the management of security for MSPs.

These platforms can seamlessly integrate with the security platforms MSPs rely on for their customers, but they can be managed via a single dashboard.

This allows an MSP to more efficiently manage security, but without having to navigate across multiple platforms.

These platforms can deliver everything a partner needs to track, monitor, and manage the security of their customers, without overburdening resources or amplifying costs.

Instead, everything can be managed via a single unified platform, reducing complexity and cutting out the chaos of managing multiple solutions.

A technology-agnostic platform doesn't replace customer investments; it provides a common operational layer across them.

Analysts can investigate incidents, automate workflows, manage tickets, and monitor security posture from one interface while still supporting whichever technologies each customer has chosen.

The channel doesn't need fewer security technologies; it needs a better way to operate them.

MSPs that standardize their operations across diverse customer environments will reduce costs, improve analyst productivity, and deliver a more consistent service.

In an increasingly competitive market, operational efficiency isn't just an internal advantage; ultimately, it's a differentiator that leads to better security outcomes for customers and healthier margins for MSPs.