Managed Security Services Growing Among SMBs

A new report from Forrester Research on the state of IT security at small to midsize businesses (SMB) in North America and Europe predicts ongoing growth in the managed security space.

In a result similar to that of enterprise respondents, SMB executives reported that the two top drivers for using managed security services is the demand for a specialized skill set that security requires (cited by 31% of the respondents) and the need to reduce costs (cited by 24%).

Other reasons cited for adopting managed security services include:

• The need to reduce complexity (19%)
• The need for 24/7 security coverage (19%)
• The rest of the IT environment is outsourced (5%)
  

Managed Services Tops for Filtering and Monitoring
The report also revealed that the top two services SMBs ask from their managed security provider are e-mail or Web content filtering (36%) and network firewall monitoring (33%). Forrester believes that the biggest uptick in the next year, however, will come from increased use of vulnerability management and assessment. Some 20% of SMBs plan to deploy these services in the next twelve months.

The Forrester report clearly shows that SMBs have a strong interest in all facets of managed security services. Some 23% are already using it for identity and access management, and another 35% are interested in it, but either have no plans or no budget for adding it to their slate of services.

Similar proportions of SMB executives recognize these issues: host event log monitoring or management (31% are interested but have no plans or budget); IDS/IPS monitoring or management (30%); endpoint security (34%); and regulatory compliance monitoring and assessment (31%).

When To Add Managed Services
The Forrester survey didn't tackle one of the most interesting questions from a managed services standpoint (in fairness, the focus was on security, not managed services). That is, what will it take for SMBs to start adopting the services in which they express interest, but have not yet budgeted for?

Our recommendation is to be proactive and deliberate about adding services. Don't wait for the need to arise; develop a plan to takes into account your security needs and build capabilities into both your budget and deployment plans on an incremental basis. That way, you'll enjoy the highest level of protection with a minimum amount of disruption.

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SaaS And Managed Services: Big Service Providers Plug In

Quick: Name the world's most successful software as a service (SaaS) companies. Most readers will likely mention Salesforce.com ... then perhaps NetSuite, two key players in on-demand CRM (customer relationship management) and accounting software, respectfully.

Salesforce.com and NetSuite certainly have momentum in their markets. But consider this: Big service providers and broadband providers like Cablevision and Verizon Business may be the best-kept secrets in both the SaaS and managed services markets.

With each passing day, I notice big service providers launching more and more SaaS and managed services offerings. Increasingly popular options include:

• Managed and hosted unified communications
• Hosted Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes
• Managed routers, switches and network infrastructure

Increasingly, big service providers provide both the pipe (broadband) and the applications flowing through the pipe (email, groupware, CRM, enterprise resource planning, and so on).

When Big Meets Small
Still, I'm frequently skeptical when big service providers strive to offer PC-like services and support to smaller organizations.

Conventional wisdom says small businesses are best served by VARs and solutions providers -- the folks who provide on-site consulting, integration and support services. Big service providers, critics claim, don't really have their fingers on the pulse of small business.

I think that's changing. Over time we'll see hybrid business engagements surface, where service providers and VARs outsource business engagements to one another.

In some scenarios, the service providers will host customer applications. In other scenarios, the VARs will continue to build and maintain network infrastructure for customers.

In all scenarios, small and mid-size businesses will seek predictable, steady IT costs by marching toward SaaS and managed services. Similar to how voice and IP came together in the late 1990s, SaaS and managed services are now inseparable.

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Four Must-Have Managed Services: In Any Economy

I spent Thursday afternoon moderating a Webcast about the managed services industry. The discussion drove home the fact that small businesses will continue to embrace certain managed services regardless of the economy around them.

My guests included:

• Gary Pica, general manager of mindSHIFT Technologies, one of North America’s top managed service providers
• William MacLeod, CIO, Accu-Sort Systems, a mid-size business that focuses on automatic data capture solutions
• Jim Alves, executive VP, product marketing, Kaseya

Full disclosure: Kaseya sponsored the event but the Webcast did not involve any product pitches. Rather, we were exploring how small and mid-size businesses will depend on managed service providers regardless of the economy.

MacLeod conceded that his company is "rethinking everything" -- nearly all IT projects and expenses -- during the current economic turmoil. But here's the interesting part: MacLeod mentioned several managed services that his company will continue to embrace, no matter what:

1. Internal customer (i.e., end user) support: Here, MacLeod depends on a mix of outsourced help-desk and on-site services from mindSHIFT, his managed service provider.
2. Enterprise business systems maintenance and support: In other words, MacLeod is not going to cut any IT costs that could harm the reliability and scalability of his applications.
3. Data Backup/Retention: Information is the lifeblood of Accu-Sort's business. Here again, MacLeod depends on his MSP for managed services.
   
4. IT Security: Rudimentary tasks -- such as patch management and network monitoring -- can be outsourced to ensure businesses can focus on more innovative projects.

I don't want to paint managed services as a cure-all IT solution for small and mid-size businesses.

But, MacLeod's strategy at Accu-Sort reinforces the fact that progressive businesses are embracing reliable, predictable, cost-effective managed services -- regardless of the economy around them.

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Managed Service Providers: Serving Small Businesses Worldwide

Thousands of small businesses in the United States have already embraced managed services. Now, thousands of additional businesses across the globe are climbing aboard the managed services bandwagon.

Consider the following data points:

• Asia Pacific organizations will spend more than $10.25 billion on hosted and managed services by 2010, up from $6.47 billion in 2007, according to Frost & Sullivan.
• Australia's managed security market will grow roughly 20 percent annually through 2013, the same research firm predicts.
• Small and mid-size enterprises will drive nearly half of Europe's managed services revenues -- jointly spending nearly 11 billion euros in 2008, estimates Forrester Research.
• Small business managed services spending will reach $5.4 billion in 2008, according to Techaisle. The data covers the US, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Brazil and India. In the US alone, small business managed services spending will hit $1.5 billion this year, Techaisle predicts.

Quest for Managed Service Guidance
When you string those data points together a clear pattern emerges: Small businesses worldwide have overcome their fears of the IT unknown, and they're turning to trusted advisers for managed services guidance.

So, what services are small businesses outsourcing most frequently to MSPs? The answers include:

• Remote administration (94%)
  
• Help desk services (90%)
• Managed security (82%)
• Managed storage (65%)
• VoIP and telephony (57.1%)
• and unified communications (32.1%)

The data, culled from MSPmentor.net's global survey of managed service providers, reinforces a clear fact: Small businesses across the globe are realizing they need to focus on their business strategies, while outsourcing core IT responsibilities to external professionals.

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Unified Communications: An Entrepreneur's Best Friend

I'm in Orlando, Fla., this week "on vacation." As a small business owner, I can't afford to fully unplug from my business. Sure, managed service providers keep my company running even when I'm focused on family time. However, I still need a mix of unified communications and mobile technologies to really keep the business optimized.

Here are three key technologies that can give me -- and my customers -- peace of mind while I'm (mostly) unplugged from my business.

1. iPhone 3G: I wasn't a big fan of my iPhone 3G when I initially purchased it. Dropped connections seemed quite common during the first few weeks with the device. But the iPhone 3G has proven to be a great device for my business travel. I can monitor our company Web sites, Internet traffic patterns, reader loyalty, reader comments and more from the iPhone's browser.

My family cringes when I open a laptop during vacations. But smart phones can let you quickly check in with your online business operations during long waits in amusement park lines or during other natural "breaks" in the action.

This week, my laptop hasn't escaped from my travel bag. And I'm typing this blog from a multi-user terminal at the hotel. Thanks to Web 2.0, most of the applications I need to access live up in a cloud rather than down on my laptop.

2. Managed Services: Our company Web sites serve thousands of readers worldwide each day. I don't have time to manage those systems during vacation. Nor do I want to worry about optimizing their performance, keeping systems patched, and safeguarding everything from probing eyes.

Our managed service provider hosts everything for us; automates system patch updates to our database, application server and content management systems; and backs up all of our systems daily as part of a fixed monthly fee.

We know exactly how much our managed Web services are going to cost every month, and we don't get distracted managing system optimization efforts. We leave that to the experts.

3. 'Follow Me' Unified Communications: I must admit, I'm not using this service yet. But I need "follow me" unified communications to make sure urgent calls and inquiries are routed automatically to me. Customers with urgent needs don't care if you're asleep or on vacation.

For urgent matters they want rapid response. I've adjusted my voicemail to let customers know I'm on vacation. But some sort of follow-me service -- routing urgent calls right to my iPhone or my current location -- is a natural next step for my next vacation.

And that reminds me: It's time to get back to vacation.

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