As an MSP, your business is designed to serve your clients. That means fixing what breaks and preparing them for what might break. You encourage behaviors that eliminate the breaking altogether. As a Breach Secure Now partner, you’re likely approaching this from multiple angles. Ongoing training, social media reminders, and products that integrate with their business to assess a candidate’s cybersecurity know-how before they become a team member. You are there to show them how to reduce the risk of a cybersecurity breach.
But are you taking the approach of ‘do as I say‘ as well as ‘do as I do‘? Leading by example in the world of cybersecurity is critical for a variety of reasons.
You’re a Target
The two recent cyber attacks on MSPs should have us all on high alert. Why are MSPs a target? Because with one attack a cybercriminal will affect multiple businesses. Your credibility with your clients will be gone in one fell swoop if you fall victim to the very thing that you warn them against. And by falling victim to the one thing that you taut as your responsibility to handle for them.
In the News
Your existing clients and your target audience read the news. When these MSP breaches make headlines, questions will follow. How are you handling this in your own business? What measures do you have in place to not only protect your business and ultimately theirs? And if you can’t answer, or if you do not have the very products in place that you are recommending to them…well you can expect the conversation to continue down a path that isn’t good for any business. Worse yet would be having to explain that you were one of the breach victims.
Follow Your Own Lead
Utilizing the same practices that you are selling is going to benefit you in multiple ways. You’ll know what your clients face in familiarizing themselves with the product or technology. You will be aware of any best practices to put in place or pitfalls to avoid. Knowing the product will allow you to best serve and support your clients. Take inventory of your own practices, policies, and procedures. Are you reviewing your own safeguards? Are you mapping to NIST or CIS controls?
Again, it is imperative that you implement the very products that you are selling. Create your own human firewall. Your business will benefit from the layers of protection you’ve put in place. Discussing the technology with your clients will be authentic and require less selling and more explaining of what you, an industry expert, do to protect your own business. This establishes trust and confidence effortlessly.
Let’s keep the conversation going. Let’s keep working together to keep cybercrime at bay. While it’s true that we serve the SMB community, we must not forget that we are also part of that community. If you’re not yet a Breach Secure Now partner, let’s talk today!
