SaaS Alerts, a cybersecurity company delivering an automated software-as-a-service (SaaS) security platform that enables managed service providers (MSPs) to detect and stop unauthorized activity in client SaaS applications, announced the findings from its State of SaaS Security 2024 report.
Channel Mastered, a pioneering source of insights and services for building profitable MSP channels, conducted the report for SaaS Alerts, based on data from from 2,804 providers of IT services, including 724 users of SaaS Alerts software, in April and May of 2024. The findings reveal how the widespread use of SaaS applications has impacted MSPs both for better and for worse.
Key findings
Among other key findings, the report shows that:
- Cloud vulnerabilities have surpassed ransomware on a long and growing list of cyber threats.
- SaaS security is imposing time-consuming and expensive operational burdens on MSPs.
- SaaS security is generating substantial amounts of incremental monthly recurring revenue.
Financial impact of SaaS applications
The rising use of SaaS applications by SMBs is affecting more than security for MSPs
The rising use of SaaS applications by SMBs is affecting more than security for MSPs. It’s also disrupting their on-premises revenue streams. More than 30% of MSPs said they’ve been moderately impacted by the shift to software as a service and 22% have been significantly or extremely impacted.
However, many MSPs anticipate higher MRR this year when rolling out security applications, with 65% of the MSPs surveyed collecting at least USD 50,000 of incremental MRR last year from offering SaaS security solutions such as SaaS Alerts and 44% collecting at least USD 100,000.
Higher operational impact
Although SaaS security has been a source of fresh income for managed service providers, it’s also been a source of added operational expenses.
Fully 45% of MSPs in the survey devote at least five hours a week to monitoring and managing SaaS security applications, and 20% dedicate at least 10 hours weekly. Policy configuration management and reporting were cited as being especially time-consuming.
New cloud vulnerabilities
Only phishing and business email compromise attacks scored as larger dangers
The survey identified cloud vulnerabilities as the third largest security threat end users face, comfortably ahead of ransomware. Nearly 40% of MSPs called cloud vulnerabilities one of the top security threats their clients face. Only phishing and business email compromise attacks scored as larger dangers. Since both threats involve SaaS email applications, they are arguably cloud vulnerabilities too.
MSPs armed with tools such as SaaS Alerts, designed specifically to address SaaS security challenges, experienced fewer account compromises, experienced higher annual MRR, and were more confident about their ability to keep clients secure.
Security stacks and services
“The report provides clear third-party validation; MSPs using SaaS Alerts are markedly more effective at securing cloud environments than those who aren’t,” said SaaS Alerts CEO Jim Lippie.
“Our partners experience greater confidence in their security stacks and services, as well as higher MRR. They expect their revenue from security services to continue growing in the years ahead.”
