The cyberthreat landscape has intensified for businesses in the past 5 years with high-profile attacks such as the WannaCry ransomware outbreak, the Marriott data breach, Equifax data breach, and the City of Atlanta cyberattack. Small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) are especially vulnerable, as they often don’t have the time, knowledge, or the resources required to ensure they are protected against the heightened cyberthreat landscape.

SMBs are turning to managed services providers to help protect them from cyberthreats. As their office and equipment provider, you have a unique opportunity to tap into the managed services market and provide your customers with the layered security services they need. Expanding into managed services can help solidify and grow your customer accounts.

The important question is how? It’s not as hard as you may think. Partnering with cybersecurity vendors that allows you to provide multi-layered security services is the first step. Here are 3 tips on selecting cybersecurity vendors:

Look for a single cybersecurity vendor that can offer layered security tools you can leverage.

The cybersecurity market is saturated with vendors providing endpoint protection, firewall, email security, backup, and more. Many vendors offer multiple security tools; however, they are often offered as point solutions that require piecemealing. If entering the managed IT services market is part of your growth strategy, then you may want to think twice about which vendor(s) you partner with. Ideally, you’d want to partner with a single vendor who can provide you with a single security solution. That allows you to offer layered security services to reduce potential administrative costs and support costs associated with managing multiple vendor relationships.

Partner with a cybersecurity vendor that can help you grow in the security service market.

Many cybersecurity vendors offer security awareness training and product training that can help you grow your knowledge, but not many offer sales and marketing assistance as well. Be sure to seek out partners who are invested in your success in this strategic transition.

Choose a brand name that is trusted.

This one may seem obvious, but it is important to not take this for granted. Businesses want to know what is protecting them from cyberthreats. Selecting a well-known, credible brand name will help in winning the customer over.

Delivering the managed services your customers need without incurring overhead operational costs will help you grow your business in 2019.