HSP Growth Strategy: Buy, Build or Partner For Cybersecurity

If you ask hosting service providers (HSPs) about their business goals, developing a strong growth strategy is often mentioned as a top priority. To meet goal, many HSPs strive to find a balance between short-term activities to generate more revenue, customers, and improved churn rates and longer-term activities to achieve sustained and meaningful development. Cybersecurity is an area of rapid growth that isn’t going away anytime soon, and investing in cybersecurity can help HSPs meet their short-term and long-term growth strategy goals. That said, it can be challenging to know which approach to cybersecurity you should take. Should you buy a cybersecurity company, build cybersecurity solutions yourself, or partner with a cybersecurity provider? Here are some factors hosting providers should consider to uncover the best approach for them.

Buy, Build, or Partner: Considerations for Hosting Providers

When deciding whether to take a buy, build, or partner approach to cybersecurity, there are some key considerations HSPs should take into account in their business growth strategy:

Strategic

Hosting providers should evaluate which approach fits best within their overall business growth strategy and area of expertise. For example, if you’re looking to implement a new cybersecurity product, does your company have the resources and expertise to build this product? If the product you’re looking for already exists, can you easily add it to your existing product portfolio? Would implementing this cybersecurity product provide added value to your company that you couldn’t achieve otherwise?

Organizational

There are also organizational factors HSPs should consider when choosing a cybersecurity approach in your growth strategy, which include:

• Financial: Do you have the budget to buy an entire cybersecurity business? Buying is the most expensive of the three options, and it’s important to see if buying is financially viable for your company. Partnering with a cybersecurity provider is generally a much more affordable option, and far less time-consuming to implement.
• Resourcing capabilities: Do you have the in-house resources needed to build a cybersecurity solution from scratch? In addition, do you have the capability to manage the product, perform regular upgrades, and provide customer support? If you don’t have these capabilities in place, building might not be your best option. If you partner with a cybersecurity company, they’re in charge of optimizing the product, and these benefits are easily passed to you.
• Timing: How quickly do you want to implement the cybersecurity solution? Buying and building often take longer, so if you’re pressed for time, partnering might be a better option for you. In general, the quickest way to take a product to market is to partner and add the desired product to your portfolio. Be sure to consider if prospective partners offer affiliate and revenue sharing programs, or if they only offer API integration.
• Value: Which approach provides the best value for your company? If you partner with an established cybersecurity company with a reputation for excellence, this association can boost your company’s perceived value. Also find out if the company you’re thinking of partnering with provides marketing support to help you grow your customer base and revenue.

Vision

It’s important that you and your cybersecurity partner share the same vision and values and agree on the direction you want to take.

Scale

Does your partner have the capability to scale with you to meet your objectives? In addition, confirm they offer a full cybersecurity portfolio so you don’t have to resort to using multiple vendors.

Cost

Does your partner have the ability to offer you healthy margins? What upfront or long-term costs do you need to cover, and which costs may escalate over time? Also consider whether they’re willing to work with you and come up with an agreement that best meets your business growth strategy needs.

Buy, Build, or Partner: Which Approach is Best for You?

Deciding whether to choose a buy, build, or partnering approach to cybersecurity is an important decision for many HSPs business growth strategy. In many cases, HSPs ultimately decide to partner with a cybersecurity company. If you pursue this route, remember that a good partnership is one where you are both committed to shared goals and willing to work towards them.

As a cybersecurity provider, partnerships are the route that SiteLock usually experiences. SiteLock offers a full suite of cybersecurity solutions that can help you deliver powerful, affordable security to your customers. For more information about partnering with SiteLock visit our channel partnership page or email [email protected].