AI Is Raising The Stakes: How MSPs Can Protect Profit And Manage Risk

The rise of AI has exposed critical cybersecurity gaps that many organizations struggle to close when they drop below the “cybersecurity poverty line.”

Speaking at XChange August, Scott Barlow, chief evangelist and global head of community at Sophos, said this line included four factors: money, expertise, capabilities and influence. Organizations that fall below the line in any one area cannot produce strong cybersecurity outcomes, regardless of budget, teams and resources.

Barlow said more security tools are not the answer. The average SOC manages about 11 security consoles and organizations’ security stacks can include dozens of products. This has created greater operational complexity and often fails to improve customer outcomes. A unified, less-is-more approach achieves better results in today’s AI-driven cybersecurity era.

“If you can consolidate from six down to one, you’re actually going to save 48 percent of resources that go to managing vendor programs,” Barlow said.

Clients rely on MSPs as trusted cybersecurity advisors more than ever, with 88 percent of MSPs now the “de facto standard” for their customers, according to Sophos research.

The urgency for human cybersecurity expertise and machine-powered support is growing as customers accelerate AI adoption and embed agents faster than data governance policies can keep pace.

Barlow said MSPs should shift the AI conversation from security-first messaging to business outcomes, cyber resilience and delivering virtual CISO service to close security gaps and reduce risk.

“You need a seat at the table,” Barlow said. “You need to elevate to become more relevant and help that end customer grow their business.”

Learn more at Sophos.com.