The managed security services provider (MSSP) market and its professional security services cousin are poised for strong annual growth, thanks to rising demand for analytics platforms that support forensics and incident response, Frost & Sullivan market research asserts.
In the Americas, the MSSP and PSSP market will reach $18.81 billion by 2024, up from $12.01 billion in 2020, Frost & Sullivan predicts. That's a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 11.87 percent. The researcher did not disclose its expected revenue split between MSSPs vs. PSSPs.
MSSP Market Forecast: MDR, XDR Competition Intensifies
Plenty of MSSPs are growing 15 percent or more annually, according to our own annual Top 250 MSSPs research. But rising demand for cybersecurity services won't necessarily lift all MSSP boats.
Indeed, numerous MSSPs are extending beyond traditional firewall and endpoint monitoring to offer MDR (managed detection and response), XDR (eXtended detection and response) -- but those markets are increasingly crowded with "me too" service providers and aspiring rivals.
Meanwhile, some MSSPs are developing their own SaaS software and associated intellectual property to further differentiate their service catalogs. One example involves Secureworks, an MSSP that has pushed hard into SaaS development. While the company's SaaS revenues are growing, overall revenues have been flat in recent months.
Managed Security Services: What Drives Market and Revenue Growth?
Meanwhile, Frost & Sullivan points to these market drivers for MSSP and PSSP services:
- Advanced Threats and Risk Tolerance: Service providers need to emphasize the effects of advanced persistent threats (APTs) by showing companies their exposure to financial, intellectual property, and confidential information losses, the firm says.
- Digital Transformation: MSS/PSS providers must take advantage of digital transformation initiatives by observing clients' current situations and being trusted advisors through consulting and value-added services to help them embrace digitalization, the firm adds.
- Vertical Specialization: Market participants should develop dedicated vertical teams and advise customers operating in several verticals, Frost & Sullivan recommends.
- Geographic Expansion: With the Latin American market in the growth stage, companies should try to increase the client's trust by establishing offices in prime locations to grow MSS/PSS in the region, the firms says.
- IoT: Enterprises that embrace IoT technologies to enhance end-user and employee experiences are likely to turn to MSS providers for quick and effective security, Frost & Sullivan asserts.
Curiously, Frost & Sullivan did not mention the super-hot Security Operations Center as a Service (SOCaaS) trend in its summary report. But in many ways, SOCaaS is similar to the cloud-based security analytics systems that Frost & Sullivan mentions.
Managed Security Services: Research Analyst Perspective
In a prepared statement about the research, Mauricio Chede, information & communication technologies research analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said:
"With customers requesting more proactive security measures to defend against evolving cyber threats, MSS/PSS providers must adopt more advanced security analytics platforms to detect and anticipate the potential threats more effectively. These new security analytics platforms should feature advanced functionalities, such as forensics and incident response, across the entire systems in different environments, be it on-premises or for cloud-based services."
