ConnectWise has announced the findings of a Total Economic Impact (TEI) study from Forrester. The study reveals that there is an opportunity for TSPs to build and grow revenue-generating cybersecurity practices to serve and secure clients and TSPs using ConnectWise Cybersecurity Management products and solutions as part of their managed services offerings achieve significant benefits and improved value for their clients.

ConnectWise's Cybersecurity Management portfolio of services helps TSPs protect clients with ConnectWise SIEM (Security Info & Event Management), ConnectWise MDR (Managed Detection & Response), ConnectWise SOC Services, ConnectWise Risk Assessment, ConnectWise Vulnerability Management, ConnectWise SaaS Security, ConnectWise Endpoint Policy Management, ConnectWise Incident Response Service, Identity Management by ConnectWise + Evo and Secure Access Services Edge (SASE) by ConnectWise + Exium. Furthermore, ConnectWise provides the resources, community and support needed to build a security practice and revenue stream through the ConnectWise Partner Program.

To illustrate the financial impact and subsequent partner business opportunity for ConnectWise Cybersecurity Management partners, Forrester aggregated the characteristics from its partner interviewees and combined the results into a single composite organization. According to its findings, the composite organization in the study achieved an ROI of 386% over a three-year period and experienced a 43% higher growth rate in acquired new cybersecurity customers as well as a 25% preexisting customer expansion rate per year. Other key outcomes that provided value for partner organizations included:

• Superior client outcomes: The research found that among users of ConnectWise Cybersecurity Management, their MSP clients benefited from an improved security posture and lower risk. They were also able to respond to ransomware attacks in minutes rather than hours.
• Improved, scaled, automated and focused operations: Organizations were able to eliminate low-value tasks and instead focus on revenue-creating tasks to scale and grow their practices.
• Significant 24/7 SOC savings: Decision-makers cited that it was cost-prohibitive to build and operate a SOC without ConnectWise.
• Cyberinsurance support and benefits: Respondents described how they were able to help clients prepare and benefit from cyberinsurance.
• Support, collaboration and relationships: The partnership extended well beyond the solution, with interviewees valuing the community, collaboration and support provided by ConnectWise.

"The findings of this study are very clear: there is a tremendous opportunity for TSPs to build and grow successful cybersecurity practices to better serve their clients, especially in this complex, evolving threat environment," said Raffael Marty, executive vice president and general manager of cybersecurity, ConnectWise. "ConnectWise's cybersecurity solutions are purpose-built to launch quickly and deliver outstanding client security outcomes, providing TSPs with the opportunity to drive value, increase profitability and achieve their most ambitious vision of success."

A primary benefit derived from the study has been collaboration through the ConnectWise Partner Program. The ConnectWise Partner Program was created for MSPs who need go-to-market, marketing and sales guidance to achieve their goals. Partners have access to ConnectWise resources, in-depth training and community-based events to deepen their knowledge and expertise. All partners are qualified to join the program at the self-paced, Registered level or they may also qualify for the Accelerate level, where they will work with dedicated ConnectWise experts to help guide their growth efforts.

Study interviewees were diverse in size, background, functional and vertical specializations, type and degree of engagement with ConnectWise. They utilized cybersecurity solutions ConnectWise SIEM, ConnectWise MDR, ConnectWise SOC Services and ConnectWise Partner Program to build and scale their Cybersecurity Management businesses for various reasons, including:

• No formalized security offerings: Prior to ConnectWise's Cybersecurity Management products and solutions, most interviewees' organizations did not have formal or sophisticated offerings.
• Basic security coverage with antivirus platform: Interviewees did not feel their current platforms were suitable for an expanding environment of complex threats.
• Existing relationships: Interviewees indicated their organizations were already customers of ConnectWise and used their unified monitoring and management, and business management solutions to serve clients.

"The security partnership has been a huge boost to business," said a participating interviewee, a managing director of a European MSP. "It's enabled us to offer 24/7 SOC services and reassurance to our clients without any huge investment. We can remove the need for our clients to look elsewhere for their services and we derisked our client base. We've leveraged that extra capability to increase our pricing quite significantly and that's worked out well."

"One of the big values ConnectWise has on the security side is they're a partner," said another interviewee, a general manager of IT services. "Whenever we're researching or looking to do something, we have one person within ConnectWise we can go to. Then, behind them, is a set of experts including high-level people."

ConnectWise commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct the TEI study to examine the potential business opportunity and return on investment partners may realize by building and scaling a cybersecurity practice with ConnectWise's Cybersecurity Management portfolio of solutions. More information about the study is available in the executive summary of the study. To access a full copy of the study, click here.