As an agent or consultant, you’re in the business of setting your clients up for success. While you know how to advise them on your main specialty, you may be less aware of other actions you can take to give them an edge in a competitive market.
Initiating a conversation about cybersecurity shows you have their interests in mind and cements your place as an extension of their team. Your client may have overlooked key solutions like continuous security monitoring, but you can help nudge them in the right direction to safeguard their business while also highlighting your value. Whether or not your relationship with your clients is IT-focused, cybersecurity should be a concern for every agent or consultant for the following reasons.
Protect Their Interests.
Cybersecurity attacks can affect businesses’ reputations, finances, and valuations while jeopardizing their ability to continue normal operations. With hacks occurring every 39 seconds, it’s in companies’ best interest to be prepared for the inevitable successful cyberattack by developing an incident response plan. Another way for companies to prepare for this eventuality is to invest in detection and response capabilities. The ability to rapidly detect when an attack succeeds can save millions of dollars in lost revenue and untold heartache. Discussing concerns with your clients helps protect their interests, which is what businesses expect of you, regardless of your area of expertise
Keep Them Aware.
The cybersecurity space is constantly evolving. New threats emerge every day as hackers revise their techniques to defeat the latest security protection measures. Many business leaders are unaware of this changing landscape. Before organizations build their cyber defenses, those in charge must understand the risks. Spreading awareness is the first step toward an improved security posture. Once your clients know the dangers that lurk around every corner, they can develop a plan to protect their systems, detect potential threats, and contain incidents before they become breaches.
Provide Value.
Depending on your relationship, you may profit directly by earning a commission for referring your clients to an appropriate cybersecurity service. Even if you don’t, however, discussing cybersecurity with them can provide real value outside of the expected service. This can set you apart from your competitors. Clients who feel like they’re getting more from the relationship than what the contract requires may be motivated to continue to retain your services and refer other businesses to you.
Establish Expertise.
Addressing relevant cyber threats and potential solutions can cast you as an expert with broad and valuable knowledge. For those in IT professions, clients will likely expect you to understand security risks, so showcasing your expertise can cultivate the desired image. Discussing cybersecurity may also be useful for the reputation of consultants in other industries like insurance and communications since it shows their expansive knowledge of issues that may impact business.
Protect Yourself.
Your clients will likely have data related to your relationship. This may include valuable information that you’d rather keep private. If your clients have not taken effective measures to protect their networks, clouds, and endpoints, your information could easily fall into the wrong hands, putting you and your clients at risk.
A successful hack could also make a significant financial impact that could limit a company’s ability to afford your services. On average, a data breach costs U.S.-based businesses $8.64 million. In addition to expenses associated with system repair and recovery, companies often lose business due to reputational damage. With mounting costs, affected organizations may be forced to make deep cuts to survive, while others may shut down permanently.
Everyone needs to be involved in cybersecurity, or hackers get free reign. Helping your clients safeguard their systems protects both of you.
Why Recommend Continuous Security Monitoring?
A robust cybersecurity program requires strong prevention supported by detection and response capabilities. Each step in the cycle is important to a strong cybersecurity posture. Clients shouldn’t expect to stop all attacks; some will succeed. Rapid detection and containment of those incidents will stop your client’s business from suffering the full fallout of an attack.
Continuous security monitoring gives real-time visibility to help your client spot intruders before they wreak havoc on their system. Recommending this service can provide the edge they need to stay on top of threats and avert possible disaster but typically costs no more than an in-house security hire. Continuous monitoring also offers service at all hours, whereas company personnel may be out of the office on nights, weekends, and holidays, potentially leaving gaps threat actors could exploit.
Cybersafe Solutions offers comprehensive services that can improve your client’s cybersecurity posture. SOL XDR, Cybersafe’s most advanced continuous monitoring solution, provides 24/7/365 monitoring of your client’s network, cloud, and endpoints for rapid threat detection and containment. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you protect your clients.
