OVERVIEW

When Sydney-based managed service provider (MSP and enterprise IT consultancy Platinum Technology pivoted to focus its efforts primarily on the cloud, it aligned itself with Trend Micro to help ensure its customers could maintain a strong, standardised security posture in their cloud environments amid a rapidly evolving threat landscape.

CHALLENGES

Just a couple of years after its founding in 2010, Platinum Technology consciously pivoted to focus on managed services in the cloud, targeting small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Steve Raw, Platinum Technology’s co-founder and director of Technology, immediately recognised the rapidly growing need for effective cyber security in the cloud environments of his company’s SMB customers. He also saw the need for a security offering that would enable Platinum Technology to transition to an ‘as-a-service’ model, in line with its MSP transformation.

The move to adopt Trend Micro as its core cloud security provider allowed Platinum Technology to bring a dependable, standardised level of trust and security to the cloud environments of its customers, helping to close the security gap that Raw saw opening up among SMBs. It also made the financial side of the business easier to manage thanks to the recurring revenue model enabled by Trend Micro’s cloud security portfolio.

WHY TREND

After studying the global market rankings of cyber security vendors compiled by industry research and consulting firm Gartner, Girgis discovered that Trend Micro was an established leader in its field.

The Gartner ranking was just one element among a number of key traits Raw was looking for in a security partner. Trend Micro’s long and successful history in the cyber security market, which stretches to more than three decades, was another factor that gave Raw the confidence to align his company with Trend Micro. Price was also an important consideration, and the price-point of the Trend Micro products and services that would be applicable for Platinum Technology’s SMB customers was highly competitive, while also enabling enterprise grade security protection.

“Trend Micro provided us with an innovative product that was priced competitively in the market we entered,” says Girgis, Platinum Technology Co-founder and Director of Sales and Opertaions.

SOLUTION

When serving its SMB managed services customers, Platinum Technology leverages Trend Micro’s Worry-Free Services Suite, which provides cloud-based protection for endpoint, mobile, email and cloud applications.

Platinum Technology also employs Trend Micro’s Worry-Free with Co-Managed XDR services offering, which provides detection and response across endpoint and email, supported by the vendor’s threat experts – effectively augmenting the MSPs’ existing staff.

Together, these solutions and services provide Girgis with a standardised security platform to underpin the broader range of cloud-based solutions it manages for its entire SMB customer base. “Our standard is Trend Micro for the security of all of our managed service customers,” Girgis says. “One important thing is the evolution of products. We know there is an evolution, and we love to see that evolution.”

RESULTS

Girgis was able to augment Platinum Technology’s staff, services and capabilities by drawing upon Trend Micro’s threat experts at some of the most critical stages of the cyber security framework to dramatically scale the level of protection the MSP could offer its SMB customers.

Thanks to Trend Micro, every single one of Platinum Technology’s SMB managed services customers is in “a very secure situation,” according to Girgis. This is an important differentiator in a market that has seen cyber security become a must-have item among customers of all sizes.

The cyber security coverage provided by Trend Micro has helped to underpin Platinum Technology’s own development of standards and best practices internally, enabling a level of standardisation across the company’s product and services offering that provides additional levels of efficiency throughout its MSP business.

WHAT'S NEXT

Until now, Girgis has shied away from calling Platinum Technology a security business. However, as the MSP’s relationship with Trend Micro deepens and evolves, the prospect of eventually building out a cyber security practice is certainly on the cards. Once the company has a full complement of dedicated security experts, Girgis expects it to become a fully-fledged managed security service provider (MSSP) in addition to its existing MSP status, leveraging Trend Micro’s technology to evolve at pace with its other cloud products and services.