Choosing A Security Awareness Training Provider: What MSPs Should Look For

Security awareness training (SAT) is essential to your MSP and your SMB clients. Here are four key attributes to look for when selecting your provider partner. 

  • October 14, 2021 | Author: Khali Henderson
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Since no cyber resilience plan is complete without addressing the human element in cyber events, your MSP business will need a supplier partner that can deliver security awareness training (SAT) for you and your small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients. Here are four key attributes to look for in that partner:

1. A Track Record oO Channel Success In Cyber Resilience 
Your SAT partner should deliver everything you need to succeed not only in SAT deployments, but also in all aspects of cybersecurity and resilience, including:
  • Training and certification to bolster your knowledge and build credentials that help you establish trust with your clients
  • Sales-enablement materials and programs that let you focus on selling
  • Sales engineering and closing support when you need it
  • Automated deployment and management to give you time back in your day
  • Tech support for you and your clients throughout your client’s lifecycle
  • Financial strength and a proven track record for investing in future-proof solutions and support systems needed for driving recurring revenue
2. A Full-Stack Approach To Cyber Resilience, Including Security Awareness Training
SAT is essential, but it’s just one part of a complex approach to dealing with today’s spectrum of cyber threats. Your provider should deliver every aspect of cyber resilience with solutions that: 
  • Backup data in an automated, always-on basis
  • Train personnel to recognize threats and avoid phishing attacks
  • Block visits to dangerous websites
  • Protect against incoming threats
  • Restore data quickly following an incident
An end-to-end approach also gives you and your SMB clients a single point of contact and accountability, reducing complexity and overhead.
 
3. A Comprehensive Security Awareness Training Solution
SAT programs should be comprehensive and reliable. Components should include:
  • Easy campaign setup, management and reporting that doesn’t strain internal resources
  • Current and relevant education that’s ongoing and uses real-world threat intelligence and keeps up to date with the evolving cyber threat landscape
  • Compliance training covering your client’s security rules and procedures
  • Phishing simulation that lets you realistically test and evaluate employee vulnerability
  • Engaging, interactive content and courses that hold employee attention and interest
  • Content in multiple media formats to keep users engaged and to lock in essential principles and takeaways
  • Auto-enrollment options to minimize time-consuming employee and group setup
  • Coverage of every topic recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Regulatory compliance review when needed
4. Security Awareness Training Proven In The Real World
There are lots of SAT programs out there. Few have been proven in the real world. Worse, poorly executed plans risk giving this essential component to cyber resilience a lousy reputation. Well-executed SAT programs can quickly reduce phishing clicks by 50 percent and get even better results over time.1
 
The ability to present your clients with a proven training solution can:
  • Help you overcome skepticism pre-sale 
  • Look good to your customers post-sale
 
1 Webroot Customer Campaigns at June 2020.
 

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