For many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), technology is critical to keeping the business running — but managing that technology is becoming increasingly complicated.
Customers expect their IT systems to be available, secure and reliable at all times, while cyber threats continue to evolve. At the same time, many SMBs don't have the budget or resources to employ a dedicated cybersecurity team.
For IT service providers, this creates a familiar set of challenges:
- Customers expect more security for less money.
- Cybersecurity incidents can create significant disruption and reputational damage.
- IT teams are increasingly responsible for security as well as infrastructure and support.
- Customers want predictable monthly costs rather than unexpected IT expenses.
- Managing multiple security platforms and customer environments can consume valuable technical resources.
- Traditional licence-based sales can make it harder to build predictable, recurring revenue.
This is where the ESET Managed Service Provider (MSP) model becomes increasingly important. Rather than simply selling a customer antivirus or endpoint licences, an MSP can build cybersecurity into an ongoing managed service — providing continuous protection, monitoring and support while creating a recurring revenue stream for the IT business.
Why the MSP Model Matters: The traditional IT reseller model is changing.
Customers increasingly want their IT provider to take responsibility for outcomes rather than simply supplying technology. They don't necessarily want to understand which security product they have; they want to know that their employees, devices, data and systems are protected.
For South African IT businesses, this creates an opportunity to move from being a technology supplier to becoming a long-term technology and cybersecurity partner. ESET's MSP programme is designed specifically around this model.
What Does Becoming an ESET MSP Actually Mean?
An ESET MSP can manage cybersecurity services across multiple customers through ESET's management ecosystem. Instead of purchasing a fixed number of licences and reselling them to customers, ESET's MSP model uses a more flexible consumption-based approach.
ESET currently advertises daily billing and monthly invoicing, meaning MSPs pay based on the seats actually used. The programme also allows MSPs to adjust seat counts and manage their licences themselves.
For an IT company managing customers with constantly changing staff numbers and device counts, this flexibility can be particularly valuable.
The Business Benefits for an IT Company
Becoming an ESET MSP isn't simply about having another cybersecurity product to sell. The bigger opportunity is to build cybersecurity into your overall managed-services offering.
Some of the key benefits include:
- Recurring revenue: Security becomes part of an ongoing managed service rather than a once-off licence transaction.
- Flexible licensing: ESET's daily billing and monthly invoicing model means the MSP pays for actual usage rather than committing to a fixed quantity.
- Scalability: Customer seat counts can be increased or decreased as their businesses change.
- Centralised management: ESET PROTECT Hub provides a unified view of customers and their environments.
- Automation: ESET's platform provides automation capabilities designed to reduce repetitive administrative work.
- RMM and PSA integrations: ESET works with major RMM and PSA platforms, allowing security management to become part of an MSP's existing workflow.
- Cross-selling opportunities: MSPs can potentially expand beyond endpoint protection into areas such as cloud application protection, MFA, vulnerability and patch management, XDR and MDR services.
- Volume pricing: ESET says higher sales can attract higher discounts, potentially improving margins as the MSP grows.