Today, Kaspersky Lab is announcing a new report, "MSP: Trends, Challenges and the Keys to Success in Managed Security in 2017," that found two-in-three managed service providers (MSPs) are suffering from a shortage of qualified cybersecurity staff, as well as other challenges pointing to the industry potentially struggling to meet customer demand in the near future.

As the global managed services market continues to grow and is expected to reach $245 billion by the end of 2022, the report by Kaspersky Lab and Business Advantage surveyed 569 MSPs and VARs with managed services offerings from 10 countries to gain insight on the current realities and trends in the global MSP market. 

Cybersecurity offerings have become the new normal

While there are companies specializing in particular services (such as MSSPs), the survey found that cybersecurity is no longer seen as a separate or optional function among MSPs. Instead, it has become an integral part of the IT services MSPs deliver - with customer satisfaction, and the ability to keep security incidents to a minimum, among key performance indicators. Ninety-two percent of MSPs now include cybersecurity as part of their portfolio of services and more than half (51%) cite it as essential to their customers' operational continuity in the next three to five years. Offering protection from cyberthreats is therefore expected to be a top priority for MSPs now and in the future.

Cybersecurity is expected to boost MSP business in several ways. MSPs with smaller customers (up to 50 end-user workstations) believe that expanding their security portfolio should give them a good reputation among their peers (78%) and help them attract new customers (77%). Meanwhile, service providers working with larger businesses consider cybersecurity, among other things, to be a way of keeping their current accounts (78%).

Lack of qualified IT security professionals

However, the study also reveals that MSPs face a number of challenges when it comes to investing in the expansion of their cybersecurity offering. Two-thirds of MSPs, serving both the large enterprise market (60%) and smaller businesses (58%) agree that a shortage of qualified IT security professionals for hire contributes to the challenge of ramping up their cybersecurity offering. In addition, around half have difficulties with the remote deployment and management of their solutions (51% and 54% respectively). To overcome these challenges, MSPs should select cybersecurity products that are easy to manage and use but also offer high quality protection.

Ransomware protection is a "must" for MSP customers

This is especially relevant in light of the recent ransomware outbreaks around the world. The quality of cyber protection remains the top requirement for MSPs as the cybersecurity solutions they use should be able to effectively detect and block ransomware - one of the fastest growing threats of 2016-2017. The report proves that this threat has been a high-profile scourge on businesses of all sizes - with 54 percent of MSPs with enterprise customers saying this was their customers' main concern, followed by 49 percent of MSPs with smaller customers.

"For service providers, it's not enough to simply have cybersecurity services in their portfolio. One damaging incident such as ransomware infection can undermine their reputation and affect relationships with customers," commented Vladimir Zapolyansky, head of SMB business at Kaspersky Lab. "That's why they need the most powerful security solutions and we at Kaspersky Lab are committed to this approach by offering the most tested and awarded protection for endpoints, mail servers and virtualized environments, so that MSPs can deliver as many cybersecurity services as they want to boost their businesses."

Kaspersky Lab's offering helps MSPs address the growing demand for IT security services and attract new customers that want to outsource their protection to a trusted third party. The portfolio includes Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud, Kaspersky Security for Virtualization and Kaspersky Security for Mail Server. These solutions allow MSPs to cover key security functions such as remote monitoring, managed security, virtualization security and mobile device security and management. To learn more about Kaspersky Lab's MSP Partner Program, please visit our corporate website.

The full report, "MSP: Trends, Challenges and the Keys to Success in Managed Security in 2017," can be accessed here.