SMBs Must Prioritize Data Protection: Three Reasons MSPs Are Your Best Choice for Getting There

Cyberattacks make headlines every day. This year, the World Economic Forum report at Davos highlighted the problem, noting that cyberattacks jumped 125 percent in 2021. But it isn’t just the big companies like Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods that are getting hit hard by ransomware and other attack vectors.

SMBs are three times more likely to be attacked than large organizations. Even worse, once attacked, SMBs are far more likely to suffer data loss because they don’t have the resources to defend themselves against the disheartening variety of cybersecurity threats out there—or to recover from an attack.

Ransomware Can Be Costly

In June 2022, Arcserve released a global study where 35 percent of responding companies that were attacked faced ransom payments of more than $100,000. Even worse, 20 percent had to deal with demands of $1 million to $10 million. That big a hit can wipe out many SMBs. But plenty of SMBs still don’t have the defenses they need to fight back because their resources are limited. That’s why, if you’re responsible for data protection for your SMB, you need to be laser-focused on making investments that deliver the most significant impact.

But keeping up with the latest threats and cyberattack strategies can be too much for an SMB’s internal IT team. If that fits your situation, it’s worth looking to an external partner to help you protect your data—and your business. With that in mind, here are three reasons your SMB should consider choosing a managed service provider (MSP) or another channel partner to ensure that’s the case.

1. MSPs Add Expertise and Resources

Cybersecurity professionals are a hot commodity in today’s job marketplace. There’s a severe shortage of these experts, which led to the Biden administration mounting an effort to train more cybersecurity workers. The program announcement noted there are hundreds of thousands of vacant cybersecurity positions because companies can’t find people to fill them. That’s especially true for SMBs because their salaries are typically smaller—making it challenging to compete for cybersecurity experts—with fewer advancement opportunities.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have options. A fast, effective fix for your SMB is to find an MSP partner with a team of experts who can work with your in-house team. That lets you fill internal skills gaps while adding expert support if (or when) a cyberattack occurs.

2. MSPs Help You Build a Sound Data Backup Infrastructure

With new technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G, your SMB generates massive amounts of data daily. If that data is compromised and held captive by a ransomware attack, you’ve got big problems. An effective MSP can help you put a data backup and disaster recovery strategy in place that protects your data no matter what.

With your MSP helping you deploy the right backup solution, you can respond quickly and minimize the damage. MSPs that recommend an immutable storage solution are pointing you in the right direction. Immutable storage solutions like Arcserve OneXafe take a snapshot of your data every 90 seconds. These snapshots give you a continuous set of disaster recovery points you can return to—even if ransomware locks up your data. The City of Palermo, Italy, did just that following a recent cyberattack.

3. MSPs Make Cybersecurity Simpler

A good MSP keeps things simple for you. That means speaking in a language you understand rather than technical jargon. They also need to clearly show how they can help. That should start with the MSP asking you plenty of questions.

The first question on that list should be what data do you need to keep your business running daily? Not all data is equally valuable, so the SMB should help you understand what data you need to store and back up. Data tiering backs up crucial data that your business depends on frequently—so it can be quickly restored—while moving less frequently used data to less expensive storage levels. That saves you money on data storage while ensuring recovery.

Data Protection: A Worthwhile Investment

The costs outlined in the opening of this post make the case clear: The investment in an effective data protection and disaster recovery solution will be quickly returned if a data disaster strikes. Get expert help by choosing an Arcserve technology partner and request a demo to learn more about Arcserve products built especially for SMBs.