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CONTINUE READING "Americas Partner Skilling News: July 2024 Issue"
Partner Audience: #CSP #ServicesPartners
Relevant to: #LearnSolutionAreas #ProgramOfferUpdate #Security
Managed services are a key driver of partner profitability and revenue growth. Security services represent the largest opportunity for partners, due to the increasingly complex state of cybersecurity that’s driving businesses of all sizes to look for help. Protecting customers’ endpoints and workloads against advanced threats, improving permissions and access management, and battling increasing economic pressures are all top of mind. Whether you’re new to security, a longtime Microsoft partner, or anywhere in between, we’ve made it fast and easy to extend a Microsoft-powered managed security service.
Quickly spin up a robust Microsoft-powered managed security service
After years of working with managed service provider (MSP) partners, a few key areas have emerged as most strategic for ensuring an MSP can operate a new service that will yield sufficient ROI:
Effective multi-tenant management
The ability to manage multiple independent customer environments simultaneously generates huge advantages for an MSP. Microsoft 365 Lighthouse enables Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) to grow their business and deliver managed services to customers at scale through a single pane of glass. With the new “Exposure Score” capability that enables MSPs to identify which customers are at high risk, coupled with the ability to perform remediation actions for individual customers, Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is ideal. Not to mention, Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is free of charge for partners, which helps in getting a new security service up and running quickly.
Proven technology from a company with staying power to build on
When expanding into security, the foundation you build on needs to be thoroughly vetted. Of course, the most important aspect of your offering is that it will enable you to successfully protect your customers against advanced threats in various scenarios. To this end, Microsoft security technologies:
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- Are fueled by the world’s largest threat intelligence network for superior protection.
- Have built-in AI and automation for additional ease of scale.
- Include ongoing assessment, visualization, and recommendations for best practices.
- Have achieved high rankings by major analyst firms.
Some of the best options for building an endpoint detection and response (EDR) or a managed detection and response (MDR) practice include Microsoft Business Premium, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
It’s also important to select a company with whom you can innovate and grow. Partnering with Microsoft will help you differentiate your services. You’ll also be well-positioned to integrate Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Security Copilot for exponential efficiencies that are sure to set you apart from the crowd.
Easy licensing, cost-effective operations, and partner profitability
Underestimated administrative overhead is the sleeping giant waiting to squash MSP success. It’s very important to choose a company with a licensing model for recurring business that can be efficiently managed across hundreds of customers with several scenarios for up-sell, cross-sell, and license ownership. Microsoft’s CSP model paired with strategic SKUs and tools offer:
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- Monthly licensing.
- Flexibility of license ownership between you and your customers.
- Unmatched cross-sell and up-sell—across Microsoft 365 Business Premium/Microsoft 365 E3 bundles, Sentinel, Defender for Cloud, and beyond to the vast portfolio of Microsoft technologies, even outside of security.
- No charge to get started for customers that already own Microsoft Business Premium or Microsoft 365 E3, which include security workloads. In addition, Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is also offered free of charge to partners.
- A 15 percent discount on Microsoft 365 E3.
Demand and pipeline generation help
Getting your service spun up is half the challenge. The other half is knowing how to fill your new managed security services pipeline. Microsoft understands this challenge and is well-positioned to help you hit the ground running. For example, we recently launched Sales Advisor, which uses AI-driven sales insights to help you identify which customers are highest-value opportunities. Now available to partners and built into Microsoft 365 Lighthouse, Sales Advisor can help you acquire new users, improve retention, and drive growth.
Even more, Microsoft tools like campaigns-in-a-box, available via Digital Marketing Content OnDemand, give you the option of highly customizable assets that you can integrate into a campaign of your own, or content and a platform for a six-week automated drip campaign.
Learn more
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- Watch the MSP security managed services webinar series.
- Download the Microsoft Managed Services Partner Security Kit.
- Read how to deploy and configure Azure Firewall Basic.
- Read how to defend against DDoS attacks with Azure DDoS IP Protection.
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Join the conversation
Want to explore this and other topics you care about with Microsoft and other US partners? Head over to the Microsoft Americas Partner Community on LinkedIn.
