Providers’ Broad Portfolios Will Get Broader

Solution providers that offer security products or services have a wide array of offerings. For instance, 69 percent offer standard firewalls, the most widely available security product in the channel, while 67 percent offer the most widely available security service: risk management, the data found.

Yet, while the study found that 57 percent offer network policies administration as a service, another 36 percent plan to do so, indicating a growing opportunity for the channel to act as a customer’s enforcer of good security practices.

One solution provider backs that up.

Carl Gersh, director of sales and marketing at Forthright Technology Partners, based in Miramar, Fla., cites two reasons for the increased demand at his company: a lack of knowledge at end-user firms to keep pace with “exponentially” growing security threats, and an “intense time commitment to proactively monitor, administer, and enforce rigorous security,” he said in an emailed response to a question from IT Best of Breed. That’s where a solution provider’s depth of knowledge can come in handy, Gersh said.