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Why subcontracting cybersecurity services will cost you less in more ways than one.

Consulting firms are finding it harder than ever to find qualified cyber security professionals without losing their shirts.

The cybersecurity talent gap grew by 26.2% over the past year. – 2022 (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study

Between international conflicts and a consistent rise in in high-profile data breaches, demand for these consulting services is only expected to grow.

“Providers are reaching out to us every week, asking if we have purple team capabilities or can execute an end of the year pentest because they’re out of bandwidth. The last thing they want is to lose business to the competition.” said OnDefend CTO Ben Finke.

70% of companies said they don’t have enough cybersecurity staff to be effective – according to (ISC)² recent report.

Many would argue consulting firms are feeling this the hardest. Affecting their ability to service customers on time and at the quality their customers expect.

Lack of Qualified Employees + Thinning Profit Margins = Poor Customer Experience.

Here’s the million-dollar question – how do you combat this while still scaling your services? Outsourcing to a trusted private label partner.

Let me unpack this for you.

Problem #1: Lack of Qualified Employees.

I’ve already made it clear the simple economics within the cybersecurity realm today. There is and will continue to be a high demand and low supply of qualified cyber professionals. This issue is happening to corporations around the world but, specifically for cyber security service providers. Service providers not only need specialized skill sets to provide certain services, but they also need these employees to have a “customer first” mindset. These employees need to empathize with their customers while fulfilling project deliverables that meet expectations.

Solution: Benefits of Private Labeling.

Extend your bench strength during a service demand surge, or you can completely remove the pain by outsourcing entire service lines. What about those services that your current or potential customers request that you don’t currently provide? A strategic private label partner can add new service capabilities to your offering and extend your market potential. Meet market demand before your competition does. Subcontractors only hire seasoned team members that can respond to your customers’ needs while speaking their language. However, buyer beware: make sure the subcontractor only uses U.S. based cybersecurity professionals. We all know quality control can become an issue when using an off-shore or near-shore company.

Problem #2: Thinning Profit Margins.

It is becoming increasingly hard to make a return on investment on employees when it comes to consulting services. Penetration testing is a great example. Customers’ cost expectations for this service have decreased over the years, while the salary expectations of a pentester have increased. Not to mention, there are those slow weeks or months when demand is unpredictable. Service providers end up staffing to peak demand or passing on projects when the team is at capacity, which results in a lower employee ROI and a drain on bottom-line profit margins.

Solution: How Private Labeling will Reduce Your Risk.

With “on-demand” service support you only pay for resources when there is a project to support them. Remember, this is not staff augmentation but a complete outsourcing of service projects as needed to your strategic partner. When you get a service request you cannot fill, subcontractors can be engaged to provide these services seamlessly under your brand. This reduces your fixed costs and reduces employee downtime. Your subcontractor should be aware of market rates for the services being provided and will be able to align their rates with your service catalog pricing. In many cases, you’ll find your service project ROI is often equal, if not higher than servicing with in-house employees.

Problem #3: Poor Customer Experience.

By far the biggest concern with outsourcing your service work is “Will they do a good job?”. It’s a valid concern, especially in an industry where many meetings start with everyone simply agreeing on the definition of words like “pentest”! On top of that every company in the world is competing for the best and brightest security folks. When hiring you may have to settle for someone with less experience or fewer qualifications. This may impact service delivery with extended impact project timelines and poor deliverable quality. There is no quicker way to lose a customer than taking their money and underdelivering on their expectations.

Solution: Private Label to Ensure Success at Scale.

Subcontractors are focused on ensuring their projects are delivered on-time, on-budget, and meet your and the customer’s expectations. A good private label partner will ensure the checklist of activities matches exactly with your standard rules of engagement and that the reporting deliverable includes the right components and information to meet your expectations. Subcontractors also specialize in offering employee benefits, flexible work schedules, and variety of work that appeal to the talented security consultants who can deliver these results. Typically, private label companies only hire team members with more than seven years of applied experience, certifications, and qualifications customers require. Again, we can only guarantee this type of quality when speaking about U.S. based subcontractors. As a result, the customer engagement will receive a broader range of skills, cutting edge techniques, and a deeper peer review of the final product to better ensure quality control. That will ensure projects are successful and that customers keep coming back.

How to know if subcontracting is right for your company.

Have any of these questions come up in your team meetings?

• Are we going to delay customer projects, or will we deliver poor quality due to bandwidth constraints?
• Will our customers go to the competition because my company cannot provide the service?
• Our service margins are too thin. How do we fix that?
• How do we get our team focused on more valuable projects that will grow the company?

This new gig economy has made outsourcing your information security services a very real option to meet existing and potential customer demand. It comes down to whether the “juice is worth the squeeze” for you.

Next Steps for All

We invite you to explore OnDefend’s additional resources including private label services via OnDefend > Private Label Security

For further information: Lauren Verno – Communications & Marketing, lauren.verno@ondefend.com