IT asset management and discovery has long been a staple for managed service providers to offer end customers. But with the rise of cybersecurity concerns across governments and businesses large and small, this category may be taking on more prominence.
Cyber asset attack surface management is top of mind for IT directors and chief technology officers as they consider their needs around cybersecurity risk and compliance. Understanding the attack surface requires complete visibility into known and rogue devices including operational technology devices.
It's building on traditional IT asset management and discovery, which involves end-to-end tracking and management of IT assets so that every item is accounted for, used as intended, maintained, upgraded and discarded at the end of its life cycle.
Lansweeper offers IT asset management solutions, partnering with managed security service providers (MSSPs), managed service partners (MSPs), value-added resellers (VARs) and value-added distributors (VADs) in a sell-through model. Lansweeper maintains a channel ecosystem of about 600 partners.
The company has just rolled out new investments in services, support and tools designed to help MSSPs and MSPs take advantage of its IT asset discovery and inventory solutions.
The program’s new upgrades include additions to its channel team with MSP experts, creating a pay-as-you-go pricing model for providers, launching a new multi-site portal to enable unified multi-site management and other resources customized for MSPs.
Christina Klein, Lansweeper’s global channel partners vice president, told MSSP Alert that the company’s channel partners are always central to its product, sales and marketing and other key strategies. Klein leads a global channel team responsible for engaging, enabling and supporting Lansweeper's channel partners.
An Expert Look at Asset Management with Christina Klein
MSSP Alert: Where’s the technology asset management market going this year?
Klein: Technology asset management is such a broad term supporting myriad use cases. In Lansweeper language, technology asset management refers to the discovery and inventory of IT, IoT and OT assets layered with proprietary, actionable insights on that data. Buyers are keen to have complete visibility of their tech estate regardless of platform or device type, on-premises, hybrid or cloud-native. What’s more, they need to take action on that data consistently across all functions.
For example, CAASM (cyber asset attack surface management) is a hot topic right now as cybersecurity risk and compliance continues to be the top concern for every IT director or chief technology officer. Understanding one’s attack surface requires complete visibility into both known and rogue devices that may ping one’s network. That includes OT devices, which saw a rise in cyberattacks from 9% in 2021 to 13% in 2023, according to Gartner’s report on the Future of Attack Surface Management.
That significant increase has led IT leaders to look for discovery and inventory tools that cannot only find all devices, but also make that data usable. At Lansweeper, our data is fully extensible through integrations and our open API so customers can rely on us as their system of record across all functional tech solutions, such as their CMDB, SIEM or SOAR tools, and more.
MSSP Alert: What strategic initiatives have you set for the year?
Klein: Our number one priority is to deliver significant value to the MSP market. We have been diligently researching and building a product that responds to the core priorities of the MSP: efficient and credible service delivery while simultaneously enabling cost reductions and increasing revenue generation.
This year we are happy to announce that we not only have flexible licensing options for MSPs that fit easily into tight profit margins, but we have also built into our core product the type of features MSPs require. These include multi-site management, reporting at both an individual customer and aggregate level, vulnerability and risk insights, life cycle management insights and data extensibility through integrations or our open API, so that Lansweeper data can be leveraged across their entire tech stack. More capabilities specific to the unique needs of an MSP will be rolled out later this year.
Our comprehensive partner program provides MSPs with the same access to marketing development funds, co-marketing and selling solutions, as well as technical and sales enablement that our other partners receive. What’s more, our channel managers are seasoned professionals with decades of experience making them great partners for envisioning and delivering GTM strategies to help our MSP partners grow their business.
MSSP Alert: How do you prioritize the needs of your customers and channel partners with Lansweeper’s core values?
Klein: Lansweeper’s values inherently serve our audiences: we care, we grow, we deliver, and One Team. We recognize that our partners and customers must be central to every decision we make. Our product, marketing, customer success, support, sales and channel teams are relentless when it comes to understanding the needs and desires of our audience.
Because we care, we spend countless hours listening to our over 23,000 global customers and hundreds of partners so that we never lose sight of what has kept so many of them with us during the past 20 years while simultaneously enabling us to evolve into an ever-relevant and important solution for our customers and partners. As we grow, we consider their needs in our product roadmap to ensure we deliver not only a product that delights but also the programs needed to grow our respective businesses.
Functionally, we treat our partners as One Team. We help our partners grow with guidance from our channel managers, go-to-market support from our partner marketing team, sales training and support from our talented sales organization and by providing the enablement and deal management in our partner portal required for our partners to efficiently function.
MSSP Alert: How do you ensure that your strategy encourages innovation and investment?
Klein: By partnering with MSPs we have front row access to the most urgent and pressing needs of end customers around the world, whether risk and compliance, network management, CMDB accuracy, patch management, OT management, vulnerability and threat detection or myriad other functional areas.
Because of how we partner, the relationships we build with our partners and the insights and access to information we have as “One Team,” Lansweeper is able to drive product innovation and align our investments with those that will impact the greatest number of customers and partners globally.
MSSP Alert: What strategic uncertainties are there in the market right now? How do you react to strategic uncertainties? Can you give us an example?
Klein: The last four years have shown us that no amount of planning will ever enable one to anticipate what’s to come nor the impact it will have on business. Our best defense against uncertainty is to remain humble, agile and earnest in how we listen and observe the world around us. We leverage foresight gained from a global ecosystem of partners and customers to anticipate what’s ahead and have not just one road to success but multiple roads that will help us get to where we’re headed.
Finally, we never lose sight of who we are, what makes our solution unique and of value to our partners and customers or the culture and people that make Lansweeper an exceptional place to work.
