Survey Finds that Outsourcing IT Security Work Can Help Prevent Cyberattacks

Cyberattacks can leave small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) exposed and vulnerable to going out of business.  To better understand industry concerns on this topic, Sharp commissioned a cybersecurity study of 250 North American SMBs with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). The results found that many SMBs are struggling to protect themselves. Almost half of all respondents said that their business had been the victim of multiple security incidents (averaging three) in the last year. While some of these incidents can be attributed to human error, many took place because the organization had a smaller IT team. In fact, 85% of SMBs surveyed said they have, at most, one dedicated security professional on their team.

We also know that cyberattacks come with a heavy business cost. The survey found that these incidents have caused lost productivity (55%), business disruption (39%), time spent solving the issue (35%) and data loss (32%). With limited resources and IT staff to address these issues, where can these SMBs turn to for cybersecurity help? The answer might be outsourcing the IT security work.  

Our study found that the large majority (95%) of SMBs said they were using, planning to use or interested in turning to managed service providers (MSPs) in order to have a dedicated team to handle any IT threats. Those that have already started working with MSPs have reported seeing many benefits including reduced operational risk, time savings, staff freed up to focus on other projects, better service-level agreements, reduced complexity and cost savings. As a result, we see that MSPs are providing a crucial service filling the threat gaps for SMBs that otherwise would not be able to properly manage these significant threats.

While not all organizations have the resources for a large, dedicated IT team, MSPs can be a great alternative to help ensure your business is protected from cyberattacks. We anticipate that SMBs will continue to face increased cybersecurity risks, and as such, MSPs will become a much more necessary part of the picture.