Recently, MSSP Alert published its yearly report on the Top 250 MSSPs. The report is chock-full of interesting information from a survey of MSSPs that makes it a worthwhile read. Below are a few key takeaways that anyone working with an MSSP, looking to become an MSSP, or an MSP seeking out an MSSP partner might find helpful.
Being an MSSP Can Be a Profitable Business
Anyone who has started a business knows that the ultimate goal is to become profitable, which is easier said than done. While the MSSPs listed in this year’s report undoubtedly put in extremely long hours regularly, the fruits of their efforts are extraordinary. Over 80% of those who participated in the survey report that their business is profitable. If you were to survey other industries, you would be hard-pressed to find one where 8 out of 10 participants were profitable.
The question is, how are they doing it? Anecdotal from my experience working with those who run MSSPs, they constantly seek ways to do more with their existing staff. From the MSSP perspective, they know that if they can find a way to increase the ability of their SOC staff to take on an additional customer or two without adding cost to their bottom line, they are increasing their chance of turning a profit. This objective is one of the reasons so many of the top MSSPs (42 out of the 250) select the Stellar Cyber Open XDR Platform to drive their security offerings. Since our platform offers them the flexibility to support over 400 different products their customers use out-of-the-box, they can grow their business with virtually no increase in their overhead.
There is no One Size Fits All
If you have ever met with an MSSP or multiple MSSPs, you can attest that each one offers its approach to helping keep your organization secure. Some suggest that you begin with a vulnerability assessment to determine where weaknesses may exist in your environment. Others, however, may lead with comprehensive compliance services, especially for customers in highly regulated industries. The point here is that you have plenty of options if you are in the market for an MSSP, whether an enterprise or an MSP. In the report, there are 20 different services offered by most MSSPs, so by researching, you can find an MSSP that provides the exact security services you need.
Partner Up
While you might think companies that offer security services to end customers provide the services on their own, in many cases, MSSPs, or MSPs, will partner with other organizations to deliver their end products. For example, almost one-quarter of the survey respondents partner to provide 24/7 security event monitoring and response services. Moreover, roughly that same percentage runs a hybrid SOC where some of their service deliverables come from a third party. If you go back to my first point about MSSPs looking for ways to do more with the same or less, choosing to partner instead of going at everything solo makes good financial sense in many scenarios. This accepting approach to offering services is excellent news for an MSP looking to enter the security services business, as many MSSPs are happy to partner.
Stellar Cyber Open XDR Back to Back and Climbing
In the 2022 report, we were excited to be reported as one of the top 10 cybersecurity vendors assisting MSSPs in delivering their security services.
In this year’s report, we took another big step forward, with 10% of survey respondents noting Stellar Cyber greatly assisting them in delivering their security services.
We are committed to ensuring our MSSP partners can use our Open XDR platform to deliver the best in class security services that keep their customers’ environment safe and enable them to grow their businesses. When our MSSP partners succeed, so do we. Download your copy here to read the entire report, including the list of the top 250 MSSPs (including 42 Stellar Cyber customers).
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