Businesses, regardless of the industry and nature of operations, must rely on IT for one purpose of the other. If you are using IT based solutions and cloud services, you have to consider organization’s security needs. A managed security service basically manages and oversees aspects like data security, firewalls, upgrades, and beyond, for a client. Today, managed security services are extremely crucial for businesses, mainly because the core management has little or no clue as how IT security aspects are managed or how the risks are evaluated.
Is it important for small businesses?
Absolutely. Hiring managed security services is not a choice, especially because businesses are gathering considerable volume of data and need to rely on diverse IT components for functionality. For example, if you are asking customers for personal information for opening an account with your service, you must offer a secure environment and the assurance that the information will not be used for any other purpose. If your data servers and existing IT framework are not secure, customers will have a tough time relying on your business, and that affects the brand value, profits and productivity, both in short and long run.
The good and bad
There are many reasons to engage managed security services. Firstly, this allows you to harness the expertise of a company that understands IT and security threats and have threat intelligence around the globe to help stop the threats before they impact your business. They are also well-aware of the solutions and have the necessary expertise to implement, monitor these solutions. With such services, you don’t have an in-house team, and your staff can be freed up for more important and critical jobs. Another big advantage of outsourcing security is reduced costs. You only spend a certain amount, and there is no need for capital expenditure and monitoring.
On the other hand, managed security services are not always reliable, and yes, there is some loss of control on the process. You need a team that knows and understands the diverse needs of your company and is around to work 24×7 and offer assistance when needed.
Taking the leap
As we mentioned, you may have to consider managed security services at some point, and the solutions need to be customized for your immediate security concerns. Find a company that doesn’t mind sharing ideas and offers direct help with understanding risks and providing scalable solutions. You also need to review the costs, although a company that understands IT security may charge more than an average one and that price is worth paying.
