industryopinion


Improving operational efficiency is MSPs’ main challenge


Diana Harter, audience marketing manager at WatchGuard explains.


M


anaged Service Providers (MSPs) need to improve operational efficiency to drive business growth. The growth of the MSP business and its ability to


increase profits depends primarily on one aspect: efficiency. But a recent study suggests that improving


operational efficiency is the biggest challenge MSPs face in obtaining consistent growth and profitability. To tackle this, 66% believe that automating as many procedures as possible is a key IT operations issue for enterprises in 2023. Improvements in automation have become a


top priority for MSPs. Automation maturity is clearly a competitive


“Improvements in automation


talent in a sector that is already experiencing difficulty in filling available vacancies. In addition to automation, 90% of respondents in the survey mentioned above agree that integration between different solutions is critical for their business. Lack of integration is perceived as the


have become a top priority for MSPs.”


advantage, which is why many MSPs are expressing a desire to automate their internal processes. But what are the main benefits of automation? Firstly, it increases productivity while reducing operating costs


by enabling MSPs to eliminate repetitive tasks, reduce human error and optimise processes. This reduces the workload of team members, freeing up time for them to perform other tasks that require their technical expertise or to add new customers. This can lead to higher scalability, which translates into a direct source of revenue for MSPs. Secondly, automation strengthens security with accelerated


detection and response. By enabling continuous monitoring of customer security, automation ensures faster detection and response to potential threats. And by reducing human error, it also improves the accuracy and consistency of security measures. Finally, it provides greater visibility and actionable insight.


Automation provides real-time data, as well as simplified, actionable insights across the network to detect issues.


Automation and integration MSPs have limited time and have to deal with staff retention. If they have to perform manual monitoring of several clients, alternating between several management consoles with a set of different security tools, their work becomes an uphill struggle. This generates fatigue among cybersecurity professionals. The negative consequences of this fatigue include the danger of losing


14 | November/December 2023


main obstacle, as it hinders daily operations and productivity. According to 63% of MSP leaders, when integration works well, it helps them attract more customers and grow their


business. Some 49% of respondents stated that effective integration helped them reduce costs, while 54% believe with better integration, fewer experts are needed to manage the workload, allowing them to focus


on other business-critical tasks. These responses show that MSPs need to implement a single


solution, enabling them to manage security comprehensively, while gaining deeper visibility. Comprehensive security deployment, management and


reporting through a ‘single pane of glass’ is a significant differentiator in this market, which can help MSPs better service and protect their existing clients, acquire new customers and grow their business. And one such ‘single pane of glass’ approach is offered


by WatchGuard. WatchGuard’s Unified Security Platform is designed to support managed security service providers, as well as self-managed deployments. It re-envisions security, making it simplified, powerful, comprehensive, automated, intelligent, transparent and aligned to today’s service delivery models. To increase efficiency and achieve comprehensive security,


the different solutions integrated into any platform must share telemetry and threat intelligence, and employ automation comprehensively to protect MSP customers against today’s advanced cyberattacks. Beyond offering integrated multi-layered protection from a


single interface, an integrated security approach helps MSPs streamline and simplify their security operations, making their businesses more productive and profitable.


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