Despite shrinking budgets, half of MSP customers view cyber as a strategic investment: e92plus study

MSSPs would be best served by deep portfolios and expertise that goes beyond endpoint security, specialist distie finds

Despite cybersecurity being a strategic imperative for end users, budget constraints mean partners will need to position themselves as trusted advisors to win business, a new survey by e92plus has found.

The report, for which the cybersecurity distie polled over 300 VAR and MSP partners, highlighted that nearly half of their customers view cyber as a strategic business investment.

“It’s clear that cybersecurity is no longer simply just an IT expense for businesses, but an essential part of their IT strategy,” explains Neil Langridge, marketing & alliances director at e92plus.

“While tactical responses to events such as a data breach or needing to secure a new IT project will arise, cybersecurity can now be discussed properly as a long-term investment.

“For partners, this can bring confidence in making it a more established part of their portfolio, evolve their outbound marketing with more positive messaging, and explore emerging technologies that can help differentiate themselves”.

Compliance requirements in 2025 will grow in importance in 2025 as NIS2 and DORA are established, and the new UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill is introduced.

According to e92plus, this means partners will also need to identify those solutions that are strategically important to different verticals.

Despite the growing importance of cybersecurity, budget constraints mean that often it’s still the general IT team that is responsible, with less than 25 per cent of businesses surveyed having dedicated cybersecurity staff or senior leadership driving procurement.

The distie highlights the essential role that partners can play in providing the guidance needed beyond just procurement.

As we’ve heard frequently in recent years, partners can move into an advisory role here, helping integrate security tools and systems to support their overall technology stack, and integrate with their business.

In terms of the driver for cybersecurity spend, the threat landscape was identified as the biggest influence for over half of respondents.

So, while economic factors will be an influence, and around one fifth will stick to their defined budget, the distie advises partners to be flexible and continually engage with their customers on market changes.

Langridge points out that this flexibility applies to training and education as much as technology, and to ensuring that new IT innovations, from 5G or OT deployments, are secured.

The research concludes that partners need to ensure their portfolio expands beyond just traditional solutions like endpoint and gateway.

Customers are looking for trusted partners with the expertise to support strategic investments.