How Risk Management Increases MSSP Value to Customers

Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) face a gamut of risks for daily operations, and unfortunately, many just do not have the skilled staff, time, or resources to identify, mitigate, and manage those risks.

That is why a growing number of SMBs are now turning to MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers) to help them identify risks across their entire enterprise, establish risk thresholds, and develop plans and policies to manage that risk, even as their enterprises, and as a result of the risk landscape, evolve and become more complex.

Why is this good news for MSSPs?

Because not only does it create an opportunity for MSSPs to win new business, it also helps increase an MSSP’s value to existing clients.

Essentially, adding risk management services to an MSSP portfolio can help ensure that once you win those new clients, they are going to stick with you for the long haul.

Risk Management Challenges

There are several challenges for organizations trying to establish and mature their risk management programs.

Right out of the gate is the realization that risk management means different things to different people. And that can ring true from internal team to team throughout an entire organization.

Oftentimes team members think about risk in terms of organizational health or financial risks.

However, the reality is for modern business, that risks are much more than that. And even when an organization is successful in making a comprehensive list of its risks, it must understand that today’s risk landscape is constantly changing and expanding.

On top of that, organizations across all industries feel like they are constantly challenged with increased compliance and regulatory expectations. As a result, many organizations feel like they cannot get a handle on all their risks.

That is why they need help from MSSPs, and it is why MSSPs are perfectly poised to bring added value to their clients when they include risk management services in their portfolio of offerings.

Understanding Risk Management

So, what exactly is risk management, especially for MSSPs’ governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) customers?

In this context, when we talk about risk management, we are referring to all the ways an organization identifies, assesses, mitigates, remediates, and manages its risk, especially for its most critical services, products, or daily operations.

In terms of compliance, this is ensuring an organization knows all its risks, has established a risk threshold, and that its teams are employing best practices to ensure an organization meets all its requirements.

And it is important to point out that risk management is not a one-and-done process.

Remember, modern enterprises are constantly evolving and along with it that threat landscape, so this is another reason MSSPs can step in and fill an important service gap for their clients—MSSPs have the ability establish continuous risk management and mitigation practices that many SMBs just would not be able to handle on their own.

That is because an MSSP has the ability to tap into talent, tools, and resources some SMBs cannot or do not know how to access.

On top of that, MSSPs are great at bringing a diverse group of people and ideas to the same table (aka those varied understandings of what risk management is and what it means for business) and helping get everyone on the same page.

It is about getting an entire organization to speak the same language when it comes to identifying and quantifying risks, which, in turn, helps build cross-organization collaboration in mitigating and remediating those risks, ultimately fueling better data-driven business decisions that keep everyone working toward the same strategic goals.

Why Some MSSPs Struggle With Risk Management

Even though risk management is a great service for MSSP clients, the reality is some MSSPs are struggling to figure out how to do this in the most effective, efficient, and cost-friendly way.

That is especially true for MSSPs that have a growing client base and when those clients are within different industries—all of which have unique compliance, privacy, and security requirements.

That is because some MSSPs are still trying to tackle risk management for all their clients using spreadsheets or static word processing documents.

What might start out on a new client project as a single tab with several rows of data can quickly become a monster sheet full of data that is hard to track, hard to manage, and almost impossible to deliver accurate, point-in-time reports.

Multiply that across your entire client base and before you know it, your MSSP is losing track of valuable data that could increase your client risks.

The good news is there is a better way.

With a SaaS-based GRC platform, your MSSP can get a handle on all that data, all in an easy-to-understand dashboard that empowers you to toss out the spreadsheets and say hello to task automation, simplified reports, and templates that streamline client compliance requirements.

A SaaS-based GRC solution can give an MSSP clear, comprehensive visibility into all their clients, in near real-time, so you can accurately understand which risks pose the greatest threats and help your clients prioritize those that may have the greatest impact, and then remediate those risks—no matter how fast their environment evolves or how complex it becomes.

In addition to streamlining data collection, reporting, and storage, a SaaS-based GRC platform can help your MSSP manage the five essential steps of risk management accurately, for every client including:

And, by offering these services to your clients, you can help them build confidence that they are meeting all their risk management compliance obligations—all without having to hire additional staff, which is especially challenging now considering a worldwide shortage of compliance, security, and risk management professionals.

Do not let your clients get bogged down trying to manage their risk. Employ a GRC platform to help manage it for them.

Not sure what to look for in a reliable, easy-to-use, industry-respected GRC solution? Here are a few key items you will want to make sure your GRC program provides:

Guest blog courtesy of Apptega. Read more Apptega guest blogs here. Regularly contributed guest blogs are part of MSSP Alert’s sponsorship program.