If one searches for ‘the top MSP challenges’ between 2017 and 2020, there are mainly five things that are more likely to emerge from the search results: adopting cloud-based solutions, sales margins, satisfying complex client’s needs, employee turnover, and the scalability of the IT security solutions offered.
Things haven’t changed much in 2021. However, at SafeDNS, we see apart from those points three entangled hurdles for MSPs in 2021 and the coming years— tied with the current economic uncertainty and somewhat linked to the pandemic —1) More attacks at the MPSs’ clients’ DNS-level, 2) growth issues for MSPs and their clients, and 3) remote working vulnerabilities.
During a webinar, Haysam Fahmy, Vice President of Managed Services at MasterCard, mentioned one key fact — the Covid-19 forced changes in buying habits among customers that were anyhow bound to happen, i.e. doing almost everything online and expecting firms to provide them with the best digital experience. The same applied to several small, medium-sized, and big businesses, which somehow were already through some digital transformation. Below we discuss three challenges and how the Virginia-based firm SafeDNS can help MSPs in such a context.
1) The Issues
Growth
The Covid-19 has been adding lots of salt to MSPs’ injuries. They are caught between clients with complex needs and issues with their CapEx. How to increase revenue without compromising on the quality of services offered is the one-million question MSPs have been trying to answer.
For instance, meeting new clients (getting used to remote settings) face to face is almost impossible despite huge business opportunities, and while MPS’ portfolios diminish in size, there is also pricing pressure piling up, let alone quarantine that has restarted in many regions of the world, all of which is putting a strain on the economic recovery of many managed service providers.
Remote Working
Before 2020, remote working was not really a ‘thing’ for everyone. Only firms with diversified workforce all over the globe used to be in remote settings. However, with the pandemic, remote working forced companies and their employees to embrace it. What’s more, businesses have had to refine their business models to continue to exist. But this has let them be more vulnerable and created more complexity in the solutions offered by MSPs to those businesses.
Remote working can be a double-edged sword; in other terms, while it can be convenient to handle big projects worldwide and reduce the expansion of COVID-19, it can be some caviar served on a plate as hackers can easily infiltrate employees’ devices, disrupt your network and steal sensitive data.
DNS Attacks
Remote working and poor security infrastructure due to a lack of financing has been a gift to many hackers that constantly wait around the corner to launch attacks of any sort, i.e., malware, ransomware, or botnets.
Knowing that the DNS (Domain Name Server) is in most cases the first entry point for many web-based threats, MSPs ought to provide solutions that protect their clients against them and drive more revenue growth at the same time; otherwise, not only might MSPs lose customers, but also be involved in some lawsuits or other financial losses linked to hacking and breaches.
2) What SafeDNS has to Offer to Managed Service Providers to Tackle These Issues
SafeDNS has been featured in Forbes and PC Mag as a cost-effective alternative to the biggest cybersecurity players. SafeDNS solutions are AI-powered and use machine learning to be more robust against some of the most sophisticated internet threats while being affordable. This is what SafeDNS has to offer:
- Cloud-based web filtering and remote monitoring that can be integrated into MSPs’ solutions to cope with remote working vulnerabilities
- White labeling to spur and drive growth
- DNS filtering to block online threats such as malware, ransomware, phishing, and other web-based threat protection
- A reseller panel configured in a way that is aligned to your brand image to add more value to your services.
- An API integration
- Pay-as-you-go business model to avoid extra costs and match the economic context of MSPs
- Discounts based on the project volume.
- Compliance with governmental regulations (CIPA, Ofsted, IWF), extremely important for the protection of young internet users
- Wi-Fi usage policy to avoid any blunder that could cause serious damages to MSPs’ clients’ networks and endpoint users.
Find out more about how to become a SafeDNS partner.
