Summer is a great time to reflect especially while chilling by the water. It’s a good time to assess the accuracy of our New Year’s predictions and trends. I also review information from numerous reports, surveys, studies, conversations, events and news interviews. I am always looking for unique insights.
I also want to thank my team and AI for assisting me in this process , although, I did the writing :o).
A Few Quick Thoughts:
So far this year, we’re witnessing an unprecedented level of challenges (especially economical and political) and a few course corrections. No one knows when this will end and we may have become comfortably numb.
While most aspects of cybersecurity remain on target, AI continues to drive the game on all sides. AI is becoming universally adopted to reduce workloads, enhance accuracy, and deliver significant time and cost savings, but the results are still mixed and it opens more doors to cyberattacks and to the unknown.
We are also seeing a growing number of vendors expand and improve their channel support. You can explore many stories about this growing channel-first adoption on eChannelNEWS, although I will caution that vendors need to do more than just talk the talk! If you want to know why the channel is the best GTM and how to do it right, ask around.
Some Deeper Thoughts:
While most of the outcomes were largely predicted by our awesome line up of channel leaders at the beginning of the year (see them on eChannelNEWS), there are a few caveats.
AI In Business: One of the biggest findings this year may be that the market has tapped on the AI brakes. In a recent MIT study (just released this August), 95% of Enterprise AI projects failed to yield the expected ROI. While 80% use Chat GPT and CO-Pilot, the net gains were on personal performance with no impact on P&L. In a way this study feels contradictory as if the employees improve their performance, how could that not impact the company in a positive way (measurement may need to go beyond P&L). Maybe a better headline would be “How 95% of Enterprise Got AI Wrong”. It’s important to read beyond the headlines, as back office benefits were up and there is growing push back by employees fearing that it could impact their jobs. This report is worth a read even though AI is fluid where everything can change overnight. As companies play with AI projects, they are realizing that it’s not so easy to go from theory to practice and adoption at scale is a big unknown factor. All that said, there are success stories as people find the best uses of AI. MSPs may want to leverage this “speed bump” as an opportunity to learn and jump in to better lead the AI journey of their clients. How? Find out where the 5% succeeded and build from there.
Cybersecurity Tech Stack: While consolidation and deeper integration remain ongoing efforts, the current cybersecurity tech stack has become overly complex and expensive to manage due to the multitude of tools and available resources. The most adept MSSPs have managed to standardize and streamline their environments. This has allowed them to move forward faster and are now addressing the next batch of critical security issues to enhance their own as well as their clients’ overall cybersecurity posture. This is NOT an easy task and we are thankful to have found some awesome MSSPs who are willing to talk about how they did it. We continue to dig into this topic!
CDE: In line with our Cybersecurity Defense Ecosystem’s mission and with the valuable input from our CISO community, we are actively reducing our list of 240 solutions to a target of 50. Although we haven’t reached this goal yet, the increasing integration of AI into vendor platforms suggests we are nearing a more manageable tech stack. We think this will mean a significant reduction in cybersecurity workloads, enabling MSPs and MSSPs to combat the vast majority of attacks more effectively, through advancements such as automated penetration testing, improved monitoring for cyber insurance compliance, and a drastic decrease in notifications coupled with more automated remediation.
Beware of AI-Savvy Hackers: The landscape of cyberattacks continues to evolve, ushering in a more dangerous era propelled by an increasing number of AI-savvy hackers. The moment a company is established, staffed, and has its social media accounts updated, malicious autonomous AI agents can initiate surveillance. These AI agents are able to meticulously gather information about an organization’s personnel, locations, suppliers, and virtually all activities, essentially “stalking” the company to construct an AI-generated profile. This initial phase is purely for intelligence gathering and preparation for the attack. Once preparation is complete, other AI agents are deployed to probe for vulnerabilities. Upon gaining access, these stealthy AI agents continue to generate business intelligence, identifying high-value data assets and assessing their potential for financial exploitation. When a valuable payload is discovered, the AI agents swiftly execute their attack, inflicting damage and exploiting their victims.
AI Poisoning is a Thing: If people within an organization reinforce AI prompt results with false answers, AI may adopt that as a “version” of truth. Likewise, if bad-actors can infiltrate your AI resources, they could implant malicious content to manipulate behaviours. Another more disturbing example of this was to learn that many people have already built deep emotional relationships with AI through positive reinforcements and could face significant withdrawal symptoms as discovered when GPT 4o was updated to 5. I recently did an eChannelNEWS podcast on this topic that you may want to check out as this may become one of the darkest sides of AI if it is not addressed properly.
AI-Empowered Hardware: Sales are up but many companies are refurbishing current devices to squeeze more usage and dodge the higher cost. Another factor is software to leverage the increased performance is still not there. Curious to see how this new hardware will eventually push software capabilities and how AI-generated software built by users will play a role. This may take shadow IT to a whole new level. It feels like there is not a lot of excitement behind the latest hardware even though there have been some huge advancements in performance, security, energy consumption and ease of use. Personally, I think the overall benefits of the latest AI-Powered computers are worth the investment today.
Tariffs: This has put a dark cloud on business investment and outlooks, but it seems like the market is adjusting as companies realize that there are many more new opportunities to be uncovered. As the new realities of world trade emerge, businesses are expanding into new markets and rethinking their future. While some sectors have curbed spending, others are full steam ahead. Digest. Adjust. Pivot. Expand into new markets and widen your portfolio with existing clients. Meanwhile, Canadians are still waiting for the inside country trade barriers to be removed.
Why are the Basics in Cybersecurity Still Not Done?: Most experts will tell you that combating common cyberattacks must be done first! Especially since it has become significantly simpler and less costly. Implementing basic two-factor authentication (2FA) alone can prevent many attacks, and when combined with improved phishing awareness, the risk of being hacked is substantially reduced. There are many tools now available to help MSPs do this much easier for their clients, at scale. Are humans that much against change or just too lazy?
As a 100% channel advocate, I do my best to constantly evaluate new technologies, business models, and best practices to support the channel community. I also rely on many industry leaders and trusted sources to inform my perspective. I hope some of this information will help you and your clients as well as encourage you to dig deeper as there is a lot more to uncover.
Beyond these insights, we have already modified our in-person ChannelNEXT events to offer more guidance on the latest developments in cybersecurity and AI, and we will continue to adapt as we gain more knowledge. Come experience this first-hand on October 23-24 in Calgary. Americans are welcome and you get to experience some great Canadian hospitality!
Our Cybersecurity Defense Ecosystem Summits have also evolved into a vital networking and learning opportunity for all key stakeholders in the cybersecurity business. These summits now unite MSPs, MSSPs, SOCs, CISOs, CTOs, Cybersecurity Professionals, and cyber vendors. The goal is to foster improved communication and collaboration among these groups, reinforcing the idea that cybersecurity is a team sport that requires all players on the field. I would encourage you to come to the next CDES on November 26 in Toronto to experience it in person.
“If I had to summarize to one key observation, it would be that the channel community must focus on developing better expertise to serve as AI consultants for their end customers. This strategy will foster sustainable growth and profitability within their client base.”
If you are unsure about your AI strategy, reach out to us. Explore some of the 15 AI services and tools that we have discovered so far. Ask about our two AI courses for channel partners by leaders in the AI space.
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