Cybersecurity to Mimic the Fast Food Industry

As part of my ongoing role at the Cybersecurity Defense Ecosystem Summit, I have had the privilege to engage with some of the brightest minds in cybersecurity. My focus is on educating Managed Service Providers (MSPs) about increasing visibility with potential customers and leveraging vendor relationships. This ensures prospects understand the distinctiveness of their offerings alongside both prominent and less recognized brands. Particularly for smaller MSPs, it is crucial to understand their significant role in engaging with the media. I encourage them to provide local perspectives on trending security and IT topics to local media outlets, who favor local insights over national brands.

In my quest to deepen my understanding of the MSP market, I’ve encountered intriguing predictions about its future. Julian Lee, Editor-in-Chief of eChannelNews, suggests that MSPs will increasingly resemble the fast food industry, where multiple brands offer similar but slightly varied menus. The convenience of a one stop shop for a complete “menu” of services will become the norm. Customers will prefer bundled offerings even if individual components are superior elsewhere. Like in fast food, the decision to purchase will hinge on quality, convenience, cohesive bundling, and price. MSP guru Randall Wark added that real profits in fast food come from add-ons like fries and shakes—hence McDonald’s iconic upsell, “Would you like fries with that?”

5 Key trends that MSPs will face over the next few years

Below we have summarized an outline of five key trends MSPs will face over the next year, as discussed by Jay McBain, a highly respected channel analyst at Canalys:

1.      Millennial Buyers: Millennials, who prefer not to interact face-to-face, will become the primary buyers of managed services. 70% will purchase services online without any personal interaction, prioritizing integrated technologies.

2.      The Year of the Platform: The focus will be on selling platforms. Cisco/Splunk is going into a multifaceted ecosystem type of platform. While 4-5 brands are likely to dominate, smaller MSPs are also developing their own platforms to manage cybersecurity tools and operations.

3.      Changing Economics of Partnerships: Companies like Microsoft are moving to a points system. Larger brands now recognize more value in partnerships with MSPs than before, which opens new opportunities for collaboration.

4.      The End of the Cookie: With 81% of buying research starting with a Google search, localized search results are critical for MSPs to gain visibility. It’s essential for MSPs to enhance their marketing strategies to capture attention early in the buying process.

5.      The Impact of Generative AI (GenAI): GenAI is transforming MSPs, not as a standalone product, but as a feature. While currently associated with a fee, such as the $5 charge for Microsoft Copilot or Einstein GPT, this is expected to disappear within six months. MSPs are using GenAI for consulting services, training large language models, and integration.

These insights demonstrate the evolving landscape of the MSP industry, emphasizing the need for MSPs to adapt to new buying behaviors and market dynamics.