In today's IT environments, you would be hard pushed to not find some element of cloud usage. Whether that be email, storage or virtual machine hosting and computational power, this is no more evident than the 2018 growth statistics for Microsoft's Office 365; sitting at between 2 and 3 million new accounts added each month.

If there is one topic which most channel partners are keen to address, then it is managed security services. Keen to be more than just peddlers of security software; and wanting to provide a wider service, channel partners are faced with a bountiful marketplace of small-to-medium sized businesses who desire high-grade solutions with lesser pricing and more flexibility.

Despite it being punished under the Data Protection Act 1998, the penalty handed out to Equifax recently in reaction to their catastrophic handling of a widely reported data breach in 2017, has pushed the issue of data protection and the GDPR right back under the spotlight.

If you have been following our blog for the past few weeks, you will know that we have been focusing on the well-known virtues of third-party managed IT security solutions, otherwise known as managed security services providers (MSSPs).

It seems that every IT-related conversation involves some element of cloud today. From cloud-hosted email, to cloud-hosted file storage and even cloud-based telephony through the use of centrally hosted VoIP services.

I am sure that we can all agree that cloud hosted software or SaaS (Software as a Service) is generally more cost effective, more convenient and easier to maintain. But in the back of our minds, there is always a concern about security; and whether or not submitting to the cloud means losing control.