Our mission on the Pax8 account management team is seriously simple – to look out for our partners’ best interests. As part of our due diligence, we continuously analyze our partners’ subscriptions to look for trends. One common trend we’ve found across our partner base is a quantity mismatch between their Microsoft mailbox seats and their attached security and/or backup solutions such as Proofpoint, IRONSCALES, SentinelOne, and Dropsuite.
While some partners have valid reasons for partially deploying security and backup solutions, it can create a security gap that leaves clients vulnerable. And, of course, it leaves a lot of potential money on the table.
What does it mean if you uncover partial deployments in your client base – whether that’s through an account audit with your Pax8 account rep or through your own analysis? And what should you do about it?
Start with these five questions.
1. Why do you have a partial deployment?
You might intentionally have a mismatch between your Microsoft seats and your add-on security and backup solutions. Maybe some of your clients use legacy solutions to save on cost. Or maybe some declined the coverage, or they have contractors with end users who have email but no workstation. Or maybe you have apparent mismatches because you have clients for whom you only manage a portion of their environment.
However, if you were surprised to learn of such a discrepancy in your client base, you should consider why the mismatch exists. Is a lack of stack standardization leading to a variety of products deployed for different clients? Are you purchasing solutions from different distributors? Are clients unaware, or unconvinced, of the urgent need for solutions such as anti-phishing, endpoint security, and email backup to protect their business?
Digging in to the ‘why’ can help you determine whether you need to address the mismatch, or not.
2. How does this partial deployment affect your clients’ security?
In today’s aggressive and sophisticated cyberthreat landscape, cyber resilience should be the ultimate goal for all businesses. Businesses need to take a multi-layered security approach that proactively defends against attacks while allowing for quick recovery and restoration of critical data.
As a trusted tech advisor, MSPs should recommend (or even require) a standardized security and backup stack across their entire client base to ensure adequate layers of protection with solutions such as:
- Anti-phishing protection and training
- Email security
- Endpoint security
- Email backup and archiving
Clients who haven’t deployed adequate security and/or backup add-on vendors are potentially at risk from ransomware, phishing, and other types of attacks. Even if they have legacy anti-virus, it might not be enough to combat today’s advanced cyber threats — leading to painful data loss and downtime.
The security implications of your partial deployment might lead you to decide you need to create an awareness campaign with some clients to overcome their objections and convince them of the need to protect their data and their business. If they still refuse, then it may be time to split ways with your client. As the service provider, you need to be able to do your job to protect them because it’s your reputation at stake!
3. What potential monthly revenue are you missing out on?
With more people now in the managed services game, newcomers often must fight for market share by cutting into their margin. Save yourself from having to wade into the “margin battle” to onboard net new clients.
It’s possible that you’re missing out on a big revenue opportunity in your existing client base by only having a partial percentage of your security and backup add-on vendors attached to your Microsoft mailboxes. Your Pax8 account rep can help calculate the revenue you could potentially add with a full deployment.
4. Could you benefit from stack standardization?
Do you have a standardized security and backup bundle that you offer to your clients — or even require them to adopt? If not, there are huge optimization benefits in doing so.
- A standardized stack can help you:
- Scale your business more efficiently
- Provide more consistent service quality
- Speed up resolution times on tickets
- Streamline onboarding and offboarding processes
- Create well-practiced sales motions
As discussed above, the best cyber defense is a layered one. By offering clients a curated bundle of leading solutions, you make it easy for them to cover their bases around security and backup.
5. If you are using another distributor for some of these solutions, have you considered the benefits of consolidation?
If you only seemingly had a partial deployment because you are using another distributor to purchase some of your clients’ security and backup solutions, you should think about consolidating with one distributor.
Doing so will enable your account rep to gain a more holistic picture of your client base to accurately identify trends and make recommendations.
Curious about your Pax8 deployments?
Want to see if you have partial deployments of the security and backup add-ons for your Microsoft mailboxes? Your Pax8 rep can dig into your accounts!
If we do identify any mismatches, we can discuss opportunities to sell further into your client base. Our team can also make stack optimization recommendations and offer sales strategies and resources — and we even have Professional Services if you need extra resources for rolling out deployments. We’re standing by, so give us a call!
