ASCII Success Summit — The Growth Potential Of MSP Security

By John Oncea, Editor

Jay Ferron, CIO of Interactive Security Training, LLC, started off the second day of the ASCII Success Summit — Rhode Island being held October 13 to 14 at the Hyatt Regency Newport. Ferron’s presentation, MSP Security Growth, From Start To Smart, focused on the security space — particularly delivering best practices and building constant service revenue.

Ferron started by reinforcing the notion that the most important message to deliver when selling security is the importance of training. Most security incidents are the result of a user doing something wrong, such as clicking in nefarious email infecting the network with a virus. He also stressed the importance of mobile device management, calling is an overlooked opportunity to increase your customer base and, by extension, your revenue.

One other philosophy Ferron stressed was to be certain to develop and maintain an appropriate plan for the defined scope of incident management, specifically related to disaster planning and business continuity. Be certain to ask (and know the answer to), “If ’X’ happened, what is the plan?” Be sure that plan includes backup and that you frequently test and verify you can restore from the backup.

Ferron closes by offering several tips for entering the security market, including:

• If you’re not in medical care, don’t jump in unless you know what you’re doing. If a customer has a breach, you’ll be audited for five years.
• Pick a spot you can train your people in. It’s important to find you niche and stay in it.

The ASCII Success Summit— Rhode Island is being held October 13 — 14 at the Hyatt Regency Newport. It is the final of nine solution provider-focused conferences ASCII hosted in North America in 2016. For more information on ASCII, go to www.BSMinfo.com/go/InsideASCII.