According to PwC’s latest Information Security Breaches Survey a staggering 74 per cent of small businesses have suffered a security breach in the last year—jumping significantly from the 60 per cent recorded in 2014.
Aside from the monetary losses suffered, the damage to reputation can be incalculable. The topic of data security is higher on the media’s agenda than ever before and the resulting bad press from any security breach today can severely impact a business’s reputation and credibility.
It’s clear that SMBs need to take immediate action, but what’s holding them back? The answer is not just money but time. Discussing small business vulnerability in a recent article in the UK newspaper The Times, journalist Mark Frary called out one of the underlying problems as follows:
“One of the barriers to implementing cyber security is the amount of management attention it takes. SMEs are naturally focused on profit and loss and cyber security can seem less relevant than other challenges.”
Time management issues shouldn’t be the reason for neglecting security. That’s where AVG Business channel partners come in. This is an opportunity for our partners to add new value for clients, removing the complexity of multiple, different security solutions.
Solutions such as AVG CloudCare can help partners easily implement security strategies for their clients. AVG CloudCare offers a single cloud platform that enables the real-time management of a full suite of cloud-based security services including antivirus and online backup (OLB), among other key features.
Brookland Computer Services (BCS), an AVG Business channel partner serving clients in finance, legal, manufacturing and accounting, has found AVG CloudCare’s security products fit well in the ICT provider’s business model. BCS Managing Director Eamonn Fogarty explains, “With the old method of purchasing antivirus, you just hope It worked because no one could check it. Businesses were potentially left unprotected. Using AVG CloudCare, we can monitor and control every device and every environment, with reduced workload for us and our clients’ internal IT people.”
Another AVG Business channel partner, Northern IT Consultancy (NITC), is using CloudCare’s security portal to manage clients’ security services from a single screen dashboard. NITC Managing Director Ritesh Mehta commented that it has improved control and flexibility, and provides a straightforward product they can resell at a competitive price, “Threats are detected and the remote management means we don’t have to go onsite to fix the problem or interrupt the client. They’re very happy with that and our client retention speaks volumes.”
If you haven’t heard about AVG CloudCare or the portfolio of security and managed IT services from AVG Business, visit our AVG Business website today.
