Exciting times here at Pivot Point Security and for Security Event Management. We have been working hard on fine tuning OSCAR, our Security Event Management solution, for public release. Now we are attending MSP Alliance MSPWorld 2011, an event at the ITEXPO West 2011 communications technology conference and expo being held in Austin, Texas from September 13-15, 2011.

Live OSCAR Demo

Stop by our booth, #1604, at MSPWorld to watch a live demo of our Security Event Management solution, OSCAR. John Verry, Security Sherpa here at Pivot Point Security, will be performing demos throughout the day so come by and have a conversation with John to see OSCAR first hand.

Managed Security Services in a Cloud World

On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, John will be a moderator for the presentations by Clark Crain from Nuspire Networks and Gilles Samoun from NTRglobal. The Managed Security Services in a Cloud World session will explore the tools necessary to be competitive, the various business models being used by MSPs, and the role cloud providers play in a managed security environment.

Recently John spoke with Technology Marketing Corporation’s CEO Rich Tehrani about Manage Services Providers, and how the cloud has made its mark on this booming market, as well as what he looks most forward to at ITEXPO. Below are some of the questions and answers from the conversation.

How has the MSP market evolved over the past year and what trends have fueled those changes?

I think that companies are not only looking to MSP as a means of reducing cots – but also as a means to outsource non-business critical services so that resources can be focused on core business competency. I think the economy is driving both desires – save money and increase corporate competitiveness.

What do you see as the next disruptive force in the technology or business model and how will it impact MSPs?

Higher levels of customer due diligence brought about by an increased focus on Vendor Risk Management. Increasingly, MSPs are going to need to be able to prove they are secure and compliant to relevant laws/regulations for their customers. For example, an MSP servicing a small medical practice will need to sign a HIPAA BAA. More and more MSPs will turn to ISO-27001.

How has the acceptance and adoption of the cloud model influenced the MSP business?

As organizations grow more comfortable with third parties hosting critical business services and processing sensitive data, their comfort with other third parties, including MSPs, doing the same increases. Part of the comfort with cloud service providers is the significant amount of demonstrable security due diligence that the major cloud providers have done. For example, Salesforce and Microsoft both have achieved ISO-27001 certification on their key service offerings. MSPs that can demonstrate similar levels of due diligence with benefit by clouds growing acceptance.

How is the continued growth of social media changing marketing and sales strategies?

Social media’s growth has made it easier to reach a larger volume of people, but at the same time, it also makes it easier to target specific businesses using appropriate searches and tagging. In the latter model it turns marketing from monologue to dialog giving organizations a way to interact with business partners, clients and leads albeit often in a more informal manner.

Will Google+ become bigger than Facebook and Twitter? Why or why not?

For B2B Google+ has the chance of becoming bigger than Facebook, but not necessarily Twitter. Google+ already has the capabilities to host video chats with many people at once. Twitter lacks this feature. Facebook will most likely remain the biggest of the three when it comes to B2C, as consumers are typically on Facebook more than Google.

As businesses continue their move toward virtual workforces, how are you meeting the need for increased mobility? What barriers are keeping others from adopting mobile strategies?

As mobility increases organizations need better mechanisms to control the risk associated with it. We are concentrating on tools that make it easier to identify, monitor, and measure remote access.

How do you see the mobile operating system war (iPhone vs. Android vs. RIM vs. WM7) playing out?

In the near term Apple’s importance will not wane. Longer term, Apple has to demonstrate they learned their lesson with Mac versus PC (e.g., closed/uni-vendor versus open/multi-vendor). Will the App Store and the consumption oriented nature of the devices be sufficient? Personally, I find it hard to bet on Apple against everyone else (e.g., Google, Microsoft, Motorola, HTC, Samsung.

Who should visit your booth at MSPWorld and why?

Anyone that is looking for a simple and relatively inexpensive way to provide firewall/vpn/monitoring to clients with no up-front investment and a minimum of effort.

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“Simple is important. Our emphasis is on building services that simplify the process of knowing your secure and proving your compliant,” – John Verry

Please stop by the Pivot Point Security booth #1603 at MSPWorld, speak with John and ask for an OSCAR demo.

OSCAR is Security Event Management, Simplified.