Sophos Channel Chief Charts Evolutionary Path for Partners

Sophos Channel Chief Kendra Krause told partners attending the company’s recent Sophos Discover 2019 conference that there are three key evolving trends they should track to drive growth. Those areas include:

Evolution of Cybersecurity and the Threat Landscape: There’s no doubt both the volume and sophistication of the cyberattacks being launched is increasing. More challenging still, thanks the rise of cloud computing the attack surface that needs to be defended is expanding. Partners need to make sure their skills remain current and relevant.

Evolution of Innovation: There’s a chronic shortage of individuals that have cybersecurity skills. To scale the services they provide, MSPs will need to rely more on vendors that provide them access to artificial intelligence (AI) to not only identify potential threats sooner but also automate processes.

Evolution of the Channel: Channel partners at this juncture need to all in when it comes to delivering managed security services based on zero-trust architecture. It’s clear most organizations now want to rely on managed service providers (MSPs) to augment their limited cybersecurity skills.

Overall, the challenge partners will face is balancing the level of investment required to remain relevant against the revenue opportunity. Delivering managed security services is especially not for the faint of heart as it requires a 24/7 commitment on the part of the provider.

Despite those challenges, however, Krause notes managed security services is the fastest growing segment of the Sophos channel.

“Partners need to be all in when it comes to managed services,” says Krause.

It’s not clear to what degree channel partners will decide to develop cybersecurity on their own, resell a managed service provided by a vendor, or partner with a dedicated managed security service provider that they don’t compete with directly. Whatever the route a partner selects, the one thing customers are making clear is that no IT solution can go forward from here on out without first address the proverbial cybersecurity elephant in the room.