A rising tide lifts all boats. This common phrase offers a perfect explanation of why strong supplier and partner relationships are essential to the success of your business. Partner programs come in all shapes and sizes, but not all provide the same value to you and your business. However, when you invest in developing key business collaborations, both your company and its suppliers can reap the rewards of your efforts.

In my previous post, I discussed some of the reasons why organizations decide to partner with managed service providers (MSPs). Organizations need to be careful when deciding to work with a specific provider, however, as not all MSPs are the created the same. Part of the reason why is because MSPs come in four varieties. Let’s discuss those types below.

The skills gap continues to challenge organizations’ ability to fulfill their evolving cybersecurity requirements. Tripwire confirmed this back in 2020 when it partnered with Dimensional Research to survey 342 security professionals. Indeed, 83% of respondents told Tripwire that they felt more overworked going into 2020 than they did a year earlier.

Managing customer security is always a challenge for MSPs as they seek to balance efficiency, cost, and high levels of protection. In this area, security managers are faced with the choice of using a single interface or switching between different solutions.

As a managed service provider, you can never sit still. Change is constant, whether it’s the technology, business needs, or clients’ expectations. And while MSPs are accustomed to the churn, this time it’s different. Businesses are digitizing their assets and moving to the cloud, governments continue to layer on more data regulations, security threats are on the rise, and the pandemic has turned traditional office culture on its head.

Increasingly, companies are becoming aware of the importance of building threat detection and hunting capabilities that avoid putting their businesses at risk. Now more than ever, when it comes to both protecting enterprise cybersecurity and delivering effective IT security solutions and services, organizations and MSPs can no longer simply act when cyberattacks occur, but long before they even pose a threat.