Dive Brief:
- Clients want strategic advisory services, not just managed security offerings, according to a survey of 400 managed service providers, managed security service providers, cyber consulting firms and their end-clients published Thursday by Cynomi. Nearly all end-client respondents said they would spend more on security with more proactive planning and guidance, and 83% would buy strategic advisory as a standalone service — yet just 5% of MSPs reported having a dedicated virtual CISO practice.
- MSPs are missing the mark on what customers want. Nearly 90% of MSPs ranked lowering overall security risk among the strategic outcomes they believe their clients value most, with just 19% identifying demand for business continuity support as a priority. Meanwhile, less than two-thirds of end clients said they expected their providers to lower overall security risk, and more than two in five ranked business continuity support among their top expectations.
- “Clients are asking for guidance, they're willing to pay for it, and most providers haven't built the offering yet,” Cynomi CMO Erin McLean told Channel Dive in an email. “For service providers, that should be both a wake-up call and genuinely reassuring news.”
Dive Insight:
McLean said MSPs must move beyond reactive services to differentiate themselves.
Cynomi found that service providers identified endpoint protection, vulnerability scanning, security training and managed detection and response as their baseline, commodified offerings.
Managed detection and response, which can be more proactive than traditional security services, is not cutting it, according to the survey. Zero percent of client respondents who already use MDR said the service fully meets their strategic advisory needs. Less than two-thirds said MDR meets some of their needs, but that more guidance is required.
Among end-clients, compliance readiness was the single most-valued strategic outcome.
“Clients no longer want a provider who just manages tools and sends reports,” McLean said. “They want a partner who understands their business, puts risk into context and tells them what to prioritize. That's what strategic advice looks like, and it's what earns loyalty, as well as net retention. The data shows that when providers deliver it, clients are willing to pay more and stay longer.”
McLean added that the challenge with strategic expertise is that it's historically expensive and hard to scale.
“When many MSPs hear ‘vCISO,’ they picture a costly senior resource or a thin professional services margin,” she said. “That's no longer the right way to think about it. A vCISO is a true expert who can deliver value in many different ways and opens up fundable service revenue across multiple categories of the business. And now, AI has fundamentally changed the capacity of that individual.”
AI still has a ways to go before it can close the advisory gap between MSPs and end clients. Two-thirds of MSPs reported using AI, but less than a quarter said AI has helped them make more proactive recommendations. In the meantime, partners considering demand for advisory services are well-positioned for growth opportunities, McLean said
