Democratizing Cyber Security For Small & Mid-Size Businesses

In a recent study, Securing small and medium-size enterprises: What’s next? (March 2021), McKinsey & Company explored why smaller businesses are an ever-appealing segment for cyber security providers, and what might need to change for vendors to adequately serve this market. In this blog, I’ll dive a little deeper into some of their key thoughts.

The report explained that “mounting cyber security threats are particularly fraught for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), defined as those with fewer than 500 employees.” Currently, global cyber security sales for SMBs are estimated at more than $40 billion, according to Gartner, IDC, and McKinsey research, growing at more than 8% every year. But despite its size, “the market remains often underserved by cyber security providers.”

To adequately serve SMBs, said McKinsey, providers require a new strategy with more efficient direct remote-selling approaches and a unique channel plan to capture growth in the managed security segment. To better appeal to this customer segment, pricing and packaging are also absolute table stakes.