ITS NYC meets the rising demand for security and compliance with ConnectWise

Quality – ITS NYC offers a practical way to address the risks most on customers’ minds

Revenue – Integrated security and BDR solutions give customers confidence that ITS NYC has them covered 

Business – A deeper security offering sets ITS NYC apart from competitors to win new customers

Challenge

To offer the security their clients expected, ITS NYC spent a year preparing their business—from securing their own footprint to ingraining security into their culture—finding the right solutions

Solution

ITS NYC discovered the value of ConnectWise Cybersecurity Management, incorporated it into their managed services portfolio, and started having meaningful security conversations with customers and prospects.

Results

ITS NYC’s security solutions complete a holistic, high-value service offering while positioning the firm for success with industry trends around security and cloud.

“We just won a deal where we were 15 – 20 percent higher than the competition. We’d spent a few hours doing a cloud security assessment with the customer and talking to their staff about how they worked. Then we highlighted the holes we found and how we could address them. We were the only one of the three bidders who had that conversation with them, and they really saw the value of it.”

- Michael Coopersmith, President/CEO, ITS NYC

When ITS NYC expanded its business into cybersecurity, the firm was careful to do its homework. “We spent a year in 2017 – 18 preparing our business, from how our solution would meet our customers’ needs to how we’d package it,” says Michael Coopersmith, President and CEO of ITS NYC. “We also set an example by securing our own footprint, ingraining security in our culture, and making ourselves our own first customer. That would help us understand both the value of ConnectWise Cybersecurity Management, formerly a Continuum solution, and how best to deliver it from the customer’s perspective.”

The next step was to incorporate ConnectWise Cybersecurity Management into ITS NYC’s managed services portfolio. The firm began by initiating discussions with existing customers about security during regular meetings and describing pragmatic steps they could take to protect themselves at little added cost. “We helped them understand what they currently have and don’t have, and their options moving forward,” says Coopersmith.

ITS NYC’s security upsell to existing customers begins with education on both need and services offered. For new customers, security is part of the relationship from the beginning. “It’s included in both of our offerings, including one with an added focus on compliance,” says Coopersmith. Given the critical importance of protection against a rising tide of threats, from hacking and ransomware to insider risk, it’s not a hard sell to make. “We just won a deal where we were 15 – 20 percent higher than the competition. We’d spent a few hours doing a cloud security assessment with the customer and talking to their staff about how they worked. Then we highlighted the holes we found and how we could address them. We were the only one of the three bidders who had that conversation with them, and they really saw the value of it.”

Meeting customer needs for cybersecurity and compliance

While any new solution area calls for a certain amount of education, ITS NYC’s customers were well aware that they faced a rising tide of risk. “With all the hacking, ransomware, and cyber issues in the news, many companies are in panic mode. ConnectWise solutions offer a practical way forward,” says Coopersmith. The firm uses infographics and other printed materials to highlight defensive measures that can be taken, including ConnectWise’s advanced endpoint protection, Office 365 monitoring, and email security. The ConnectWise SOC is especially valuable for ITS NYC’s customers in the highly regulated legal and financial services industries. “Our customers are getting hit with a lot of compliance requirements, which does a lot of our selling for us. They are told they have to do these things, and we can give them what they need to get it done.”

Building a trusted relationship with customers

ITS NYC’s integrated solution portfolio gives customers confidence that security issues can be dealt with efficiently and comprehensively, from security awareness through incident response. “We’ve heard back from the customers we’ve trained that their staff is much more aware of what to watch for,” says Coopersmith. The combination of data protection with backup and disaster recovery greatly reduces the risk posed by ransomware. “We had a customer hit with ransomware, and an hour later we had their 1.5 TB server up and running with full data restoration. That was a big advantage for us—while the ConnectWise NOC handled the back-end response, we could focus the customer relationship at a critical moment.”

Completing a holistic service offering

ITS NYC leads with security on some deals, but always as one part of a comprehensive, holistic offering. “People need to be secure, but they also need their network and endpoints to work,” says Coopersmith. “They want one party to deal with—somebody who really understands their business.” In some cases, that relationship begins even before the deal has been closed. “We have a law firm customer whose own client was breached and the client’s MSP didn’t know how to deal with it. We happened to be in our customer’s office that day and gave the client some free advice. That quickly led to a referral and a meeting to discuss our services.”

Advice for other MSPs

One of Coopersmith’s biggest pieces of advice for other MSPs getting into the security game is to make sure you’ve laid the groundwork beforehand with strong face-to-face customer relationships over time. “You can’t just show up in their office for the first time in years and try to sell them something new. You have to be doing technology business reviews (TBRs) regularly to keep those relationships fresh.”

Moving forward, Coopersmith sees a natural connection between ITS NYC’s security and cloud offerings. “The more we can shift infrastructure out of a customer’s office and into the cloud, and the more we can secure that data, the further we’ll grow our business and keep up with the technology landscape. We want to stay ahead of the curve and ConnectWise has helped succeed there.”

Cybersecurity Threat Detection & Response

ConnectWise Cybersecurity Management (now ConnectWise Cybersecurity and Data Management) takes cybersecurity threat detection and response to new heights. With powerful assessments, protection, detection, and response capabilities, managed solution providers (MSPs) are able to stay ahead of the latest threats and provide the security services their clients expect. Expert SOC services are available 24/7/365 to bridge the security skills gap and provide rapid threat response to MSPs' managed environments, allowing for scalable security services and around-the-clock protection.