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CS Jul-Aug 2023

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managed services<br />

THE MAKING OF A MANAGED SERVICE<br />

MIKE RICHMOND, TECHNICAL SERVICES MANAGER AT BROOKCOURT SOLUTIONS, TOOK TIME<br />

OUT TO TALK TO STEVE USHER, BROOKCOURT'S SECURITY SERVICES MANAGER, TO UNDERSTAND<br />

MORE ABOUT HOW MANAGED SERVICES WORK AND HOW THEY BENEFIT BUSINESS<br />

What is a managed service and<br />

what types of managed<br />

services exist?<br />

A managed service is typically a service,<br />

product or role that is provided by a third<br />

party, where the third-party reports to the<br />

company they are contracted to.<br />

This can be anything from managing the<br />

endpoint anti-malware, to the mail or web<br />

gateways, or, in some cases, having a whole<br />

job role, such a data protection officer<br />

(DPO) or chief information security officer<br />

(CISO) that is carried out by the third party.<br />

How do managed services benefit<br />

a business?<br />

Managed services are of great benefit for<br />

multiple reasons. However, the primary<br />

reason, in my opinion, is the high-quality<br />

skill sets of staff engaged in the managed<br />

service provision (MSP), which is a cost<br />

benefit to the customer as, if the customer<br />

directly employed staff with those skill sets,<br />

their costs would be higher.<br />

Ability to limit full-time employee<br />

(FTE) head count<br />

Ability to have the latest version of a<br />

product and ensure those managing<br />

it are skilled on that product<br />

Access to highly specialised and<br />

experienced resources that would<br />

normally be outside of the budget<br />

of smaller companies<br />

Access to technology that could be<br />

outside the budget/reach of smaller<br />

companies<br />

Ensure the use of industry best<br />

practices for the various products<br />

and services.<br />

Enterprise organisations like financial<br />

institutions and big brands can afford to<br />

buy into the top technology - how do<br />

smaller organisations fare when it comes<br />

to their security posture?<br />

Access to top-tier technology can be a<br />

challenge to smaller companies, due to the<br />

cost of the technology and the skills that are<br />

required to utilise the technology and gain<br />

the most benefit from it. This is where<br />

MSPs can be leveraged to provide tier<br />

technologies that are wrapped in a<br />

service that enhances a company's<br />

security posture.<br />

Last year, we saw the launch<br />

of Mind Security, a new<br />

managed service offering.<br />

Can you tell me how it<br />

helps organisations with<br />

their security?<br />

The service essentially<br />

supports businesses with<br />

managed public breach<br />

monitoring and<br />

endpoint<br />

protection,<br />

and we<br />

plan to<br />

launch<br />

further solutions into the Mind Security<br />

portfolio in the coming months.<br />

What are the top security challenges all<br />

businesses face today?<br />

There are security challenges facing all<br />

companies daily and this list is expanding<br />

constantly.<br />

22<br />

computing security <strong>Jul</strong>y/<strong>Aug</strong>ust <strong>2023</strong> @<strong>CS</strong>MagAndAwards www.computingsecurity.co.uk

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