Automation is boosting revenue, driving growth and enhancing job satisfaction for MSSPs, according to the 2024 MSSP Survey by D3 Security.
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company is a cybersecurity vendor that works closely with MSSPs, specializing in smart security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR).
“Our survey offers MSSP professionals the rare opportunity to look inside the minds of their peers and learn from what they are planning, prioritizing for the coming years, and even what they are struggling with,” D3 Security Incident Response Researcher Pierre Noujeim told MSSP Alert. “It’s likely to inspire some new ideas in any reader.”
Noujeim said that MSSPs will be particularly interested to learn how others in the industry are thinking about automation and AI. For that matter, automation involves the use of of technology and tools (like AI) so that MSSPs can offer more scalable, efficient and effective security services, which is essential for managing the growing volume of cyber threats.
“It appears that a technology arms race is taking shape, but what is hype and what will provide real value to customers remain to be seen,” Noujeim said.
AI Drives MSSP Profits, Job Satisfaction
Most notable for the report, D3 Security found that automation drives revenue and profit margins for approximately two-thirds of MSSPs while improving the job satisfaction of 87% of employees. In fact, MSSPs have an overwhelmingly positive view of automation.
Among survey respondents:
- 82% said their company uses a high or medium amount of automation.
- 87% said automation had a positive effect on their job satisfaction.
- 67% said automation had helped their business increase revenue
- 64% said it helped them improve profit margins, and the same number said it helped them differentiate from competitors.
- Only 4% of respondents said automation had been used to replace human workers.
MSSP Uptake of AI, Business Struggles
AI is widely used by MSSPs, but not in consistent ways, according to the report. While 80% of respondents said their company used some form of AI, many of the use cases they cited were for enabling business functions, such as sales and marketing, rather than security operations.
When asked about their MSSP’s biggest challenge, respondents’ most common answer was “effective communication and collaboration with clients.” Similarly, when asked what tasks currently tie up too much time in their organization, the top three answers pointed to administrative functions involving reporting, client onboarding, and client communication.
Threat hunting was the security activity most frequently named as a challenge, which came in fourth, according to the report.
A Question of Growth, Analyst Wellbeing
MSSPs expect to grow their customer bases through other managed service providers (MSPs). According to the report, 67% of respondents said their company planned to drive customer growth through the sector of MSPs and IT services, just ahead of enterprise customers (64%) and SMBs (64%).
More respondents plan to grow revenue via new services sold to existing customers (80%) than through net new customers (69%).
Meanwhile, cybersecurity is still a challenge field for security professionals. D3 Security reports that 80% of respondents said that stress had a negative impact on the wellbeing of people in the industry.
Inside Today’s MSSP Industry
D3 Security’s survey captures a snapshot of people on the front lines of the MSSP industry — what services today’s MSSPs focus on, what they struggle with and where they see opportunities for growth.
The survey received nearly 2000 responses from May to July 2024, with 71% of the MSSPs based in the U.S. The other countries represented were Canada, Brazil, Australia, Denmark, India and the U.K. — MSSPs ranging from 100-plus employees (56%) to fewer than 25 (22%), D3 Security said.
“The results of this research project tell us that automation is a crucial tool for MSSPs and that capabilities that reduce administrative burdens — such as fast client onboarding, streamlined client collaboration, and automated reporting — are some of the most important things we can provide our many MSSP customers,” Noujeim said in a press statement.
