3 Reasons To Add Data Governance And Security Solutions To Your Portfolio

By Rich Shea, Vice President of Sales, DataGravity

The IT industry is more aware of data security risks than ever before. Despite this recognition of the current reality, many organizations remain unprepared to properly manage sensitive data and reduce the fallout from breaches that may plague their teams in the future. No matter the size or scope of your company, one of the worst moments for an IT or security manager is the one that follows a data breach — especially if an executive is asking whether the company could have prevented the incident.

This heightened security climate is creating new opportunities for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), and ISVs to add critical data governance and security solutions to their portfolios. It’s difficult to stop a breach in its tracks, but there are holes in the market where legitimate action can and should be taken with easily implemented technologies. For example, despite popular belief that data theft originates with a dedicated third-party attacker breaking into a private system with a specific intent, the Ponemon Institute reports that 78 percent of breaches actually begin within an organization. A critical breach can be the result of an employee absentmindedly saving the wrong data to the wrong location — or a disgruntled employee intentionally wreaking havoc. With effective data governance in place, ISVs, MSPs and VARs can help their clients locate and protect sensitive and private information before one wrong move threatens to bring down the organization’s reputation and success. Below are three reasons data governance, security, and data-aware tools are an asset to any portfolio.

1. Most companies don’t know what’s in their data

Organizations across industries are often storing private information throughout their IT systems, spread across virtual machines (VMs) and primary servers, without any way to identify its location or reduce its risk of exposure. Seek solutions that go beyond basic monitoring and instead help your clients look inside their data, find sensitive elements and protect them before a breach occurs. As a result, you’ll quickly differentiate your solution from the wide range of security and IT products on the market and demonstrate your ability to add value to customers’ teams.

2. Executive teams are paying attention to security conversations

Not long ago, data security was approached with an “ignorance is bliss” mentality. After breaches on major organizations like Target and Home Depot resonated with the general public, however, it became clear that in many instances, what you don’t know about your data can indeed hurt you. Data security and protection is now a boardroom conversation, and C-level executives are granting new resources for technologies that can protect their customers, employees, partners, and information. Many of your clients now have the budget to test new solutions in hopes of securing their sensitive data; in response, your team should be prepared to deliver the solutions that will help them reach their newfound goals.

3. Data security is no longer a siloed market

Traditionally, security solutions were centered in the application layer of the IT stack. Teams concerned with storage and networking infrastructure were rarely involved with data security decisions. Now, however, managing sensitive data is a priority for every team throughout an organization. By building security solutions into your portfolio, you’ll address wider needs in your customers’ ecosystems.

Integrations between security tools throughout the IT stack also create an opportunity to build expertise in markets outside your primary focus. If your channel organization was previously focused on one area of IT, such as storage, expanding that vertical and building an equally strong reputation in another market can be a challenge. Solutions that combine existing specialties with security features can help increase your credibility in a new vertical while earning your customers’ trust.

A security breach will never be painless. However, when you can identify your sensitive data and where it lives, you don’t have to worry about vulnerable data needlessly sitting around waiting to be revealed. Recovering from an exposure becomes more of a straightforward process when you can pinpoint when exposures happened and the extent of the breach. Data governance and security are already on the minds of midmarket organizations and enterprises more than ever. By aligning themselves with technologies that offer governance features, ISVs, MSPs and VARs can join this conversation and become a more valuable business partner to their customers.

Rich Shea is the vice president of sales at DataGravity. He brings 25 years of experience with global sales management, product marketing, and system engineering to the role. Shea is responsible for ramping and managing the DataGravity field sales organization in its mission of business development, channel creation/management and revenue generation. Prior to DataGravity, Shea was the worldwide vice president of sales and services at SimpliVity Corporation.