Tech Data increasing managed security services support

Tech Data is increasing the support it can offer resellers looking to make the move into delivering managed security services.

With cyber threats increasing in complexity, skill shortages a problem and SMEs vulnerable to attack there is an opportunity for those in the channel with the right expertise to help customers.

But those skill shortages that exist at a customer level are often plaguing resellers as well and in response Tech Data is taking steps to help ease the burden of making the shift into becoming an MSSP.

The distributor has launched its RECON Security Suite providing resellers with a number of subscription and consultation-based security solutions that can be taken out to the market by resellers looking to help customers with their most pressing needs.

Dave Ellis, vice president, security and mobility solutions, Europe at Tech Data, said that those channel players serving the SME community faced a customer base struggling to deal with a fragmented market and a lack of skilled staff.

"It is still a complex and fragmented market and I can't see that changing in the short-term and that makes it a challenge. The average enterprise is running over 40 different security vendor products and the cyber skills shortages are worsening," he said.

"There is an opportunity for the channel with the skills shortage to deliver security as a service and more and more resellers are transforming to become service aggregators and providers," he said.

Ellis said RECON was designed to take the burden off the shoulders of those resellers that had not yet made the transition to becoming an MSSP, reducing the risk and need for a big financial outlay.

At the same time as launching RECON the distributor is also looking to expand the opportunities for existing security specialists it works with by targeting some of the other technology markets it covers.

A programme to encourage those audio visual and digital signage specialists that work with Maverick to add security has been launched and Ellis said there was a need for greater security in that market.

"In the past the AV and signage products were not always connected to the network but now they are another node that is open to attack," he said.

"The benefit of Tech Data is the coverage of all the adjacent verticals and we have also been working on Office 365 security needs and built a number of solutions and programmes that offer end-to-end services that are multi-vendor," he added.