With the digital landscape changing rapidly and an increased adoption of cloud and AI, organizations are collecting and managing huge volumes of sensitive data for their customers. Organizations face a challenge of how quickly they can mature their cybersecurity culture, leading to a constant debate on in-house security vs outsourcing to cybersecurity providers. Therefore, it is important for senior leaders to review both the internal circumstances and their cybersecurity needs & maturity to make the right decision.  

According to reports, 37% of organizations with a maturity between 1-3 years opt for outsourcing to build a strong and effective security posture.
 

Factors to consider when evaluating cyber security products and services: 

Knowledge of risk profile: When choosing a right security partner, it’s important for a business to ensure the provider or partner aligns with its specific security needs and highlights the risk profile with full transparency. This means evaluating the types of threats most relevant to the business, the sensitivity of the data being protected, compliance requirements, and the current IT infrastructure. 

Better security coverage with advanced and/or added protection layer: When evaluating a new cybersecurity partner, business leaders should carefully assess whether the provider can offer advanced or additional protection complementing their current security and beyond the company’s current capabilities. They should also consider the time and resources they can save in outsourcing their security operations to the experts and whether it can enhance their defense end-to-end. 

Understanding of the potential business impact: Organizations must ensure that their cybersecurity partner is able to understand their business and tailor the security specific to their needs. It is equally critical for organizations to have a trusted security partner who can respond to any incident immediately ensuring business uptime and minimizing the impact on business continuity. 

Time to measurable ROI: When considering an outsourced security, businesses should focus on two key questions: does it address a problem in a measurable way andhow quickly after outsourcing will they see value from the provider? Answering these questions will help set guidelines for assessing the provider and ensure they can deliver the expected return on investment. 

Ease of integration with your existing technology stack: Organizations should be able to migrate or onboard their security provider seamlessly without added overheads. To ensure this, it is crucial to assess how easily the security provider understands the complexities of the existing infrastructure and integrate solutions seamlessly, acting as an extension to the team. 

There are several other factors that organizations must consider when choosing a right security partner based on their needs, maturity level and compliance & regulatory frameworks. For the success of a security partnership, organizations must identify the key synergies to unlock the benefits in the long run. At Smarttech247, we work with clients across the globe to enhance their security and elevate their security experience in every part of their security maturity journey.  

Smarttech247 is a Recognized Representative Vendor in the 2024 Gartner® Market Guide for Managed Detection and Response.  

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