For many SMBs, managed security services offer all kinds of benefits compared to trying to manage IT security in-house. If, however, you’re still trying to decide if using managed security services is the right choice for you, then here is a quick guide to the benefits of using managed security services in Sacramento.
1. No more recruitment and retention headaches (for cybersecurity staff)
The cybersecurity industry is doing its best to encourage newcomers to view it as an attractive career choice. Hopefully, this will provide a long-term solution to the global shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals. For now, however, they are in low supply and high demand, which means that recruiting and retaining them can be a real hassle, especially for SMBs.
The hard fact is that even if SMBs can match managed security services and corporates for wages and benefits, they are unlikely to be able to match them for development opportunities, and in the fast-paced world of cybersecurity, this is a huge drawback.
2. Access to best-in-breed technology and expert staff)
While SMBs have the same need for security as larger corporations, it can be much harder for them to budget for top-of-the-range technology even without the cost of the humans needed to manage it. Managed security services, however, can buy the technology once and use it to service a number of their customers. This means that each customer is only paying part of the cost, but getting the full benefits.
3. Help with managing compliance issues
These days, it’s probably a safe bet that just about every SMB in every industry niche will have some sort of compliance program they need to follow. For example, any business which takes card payments will need to follow PCI/DSS.
The good news is that a lot of these programs just formalize the need to create and implement robust security practices. The bad news is that many SMBs, especially smaller ones, may struggle to understand what that means, hence the need for third-party vendors to assist them. Getting a well-managed security service provider on your side can be a whole lot more affordable and less stressful than being hit by compliance action.
4. Regular, predictable expenses
For finance departments, this may be the single biggest argument in favor of moving to managed security services. You eliminate the need for ad hoc capital expenditure and replace it with a straightforward, predictable monthly payment that guarantees you the service you want.
There is, however, one slight caveat here, which is that you need to understand your service agreement and what it means in practice. A lot of the time managed security services have billing plans to cover everyday tasks, essentially anything to do with security monitoring but will charge extra for add-on services such as helping to troubleshoot any security threats they identify and providing customized consultancy services.
Although it might seem both obvious and reasonable that you would have to pay extra for consultancy services, it may come as something of a surprise that you also need to pay for help to resolve security threats. If you think about this, however, the logic is fairly simple.
A managed security services provider wants to be able to predict their costs just as much as you do. They do not want to leave an open door to customers to increase their expenses by repeatedly calling on them to resolve security issues. They do want to motivate customers to practice good IT security hygiene to deter cybercriminals from trying to attack them in the first place. If companies do not understand what that is (which, in the case of SMBs is entirely possible), then managed security services providers will be happy to guide them through a combination of free advice and paid consultancy.
The key point to take away, therefore, is that managed security services are not a “silver bullet” to solve all problems. They are one part of an effective security solution. The other key parts are implementing effective security protection and being prepared to deal with attacks if/when they occur. Managed security services can help with these but they will not usually be automatically responsible for them, at least not as part of a standard managed security services agreement.
5. The benefits of staying local
In principle, you can sign up with a managed security services provider anywhere in the world. In practice, there is a lot to be said for using managed security services in Sacramento. Staying local can make it a lot easier to build up a good working partnership with your managed security services provider. It also ensures that you work to the same set of local laws and that any disputes will be handled by your local courts.
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