Avast Integrates Security Assessment into its RMM Platform for Managed Service Providers

New AVG Managed Workplace solution delivers all-in-one-solution to easily identify, communicate and resolve security risks for businesses

ChannelCon, Austin, July 31, 2017 – At ChannelCon 2017 today, Avast, the global leader in digital security products, announced the release of its new AVG Managed Workplace solution with the addition of site security assessment for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). An alternative to costly and complex assessment and monitoring solutions, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) now have a simplified way to perform real-time security assessments and consolidate the data into easy-to-read reports that prescribe solutions for issues. From these reports, MSPs can quickly recommend solutions, take actionable steps to remediate issues and demonstrate how they are keeping businesses safe and secure – all from the Managed Workplace remote monitoring and management platform (RMM).

Security threats and data breaches can be catastrophic for SMBs who are increasingly the target for cyberattacks. This adds to challenges for MSPs due to increased security expectations but also highlights their critical role. Recent CompTIA research noted that expected growth of managed services is predicted to be on par with high-growth market categories like Internet of Things at nearly 30%. While monitoring and management will help MSPs with their daily work and this expected demand for their skills, these tools and platforms must focus on the security of networks and devices. The new Managed Workplace security assessment enables MSPs to do a health check on their customers’ networks right from the RMM platform, providing real-time assessments that are easy to generate and communicate, coupled with actionable plans required to stay ahead of threats and protect the SMB.

The new Managed Workplace security assessment includes four core components:

• Site security dashboard: From the dashboard, MSPs can add or remove sites, view all of the sites they manage, and easily navigate to each site’s security overview to display details for categories that include antivirus security, patch security, and user security.
• Site security assessment: This powerful tool performs a security assessment for any or all managed sites, analyzing various aspects of security, such as status of antivirus software,

password management policy, or patch management.

• Site security score: When an assessment runs at a site, MSPs get a security score of vulnerabilities at that site and can see issues contributing to the score. The individual assessments will also show what is at risk, how to mitigate this, and what action is needed.
• Site security reporting: Three reports are available depending on the level of detail needed, including a security summary, a site security report, and a site security detailed report. Through the reports, MSPs can easily demonstrate what steps they are taking to keep their clients’ business safe and discuss areas for ongoing improvement.

"Industry research shows more than half of SMB data breaches in the past year have involved customer and employee information, resulting in companies spending more than $800,000 to recover. Our channel partners have also told us that one of their biggest security challenges is helping their clients understand the role people play in security issues, and that this can often be resolved by knowing what measures to take to prevent these risks. The trouble is most security monitoring and assessment tools only solve for some of what the MSP needs,” said Kevin Chapman, SVP and general manager of Avast’s SMB Business. “We saw a market opportunity to provide MSPs with a better way to communicate the specific factors that are contributing to their clients’ security risks and show how their services are resolving these issues. This equips MSPs with the tools to have valuable security conversations with their clients and demonstrate tangibly what they are doing to keep their business safe."

Eric Gorman, executive vice president and COO, Integrated Enterprise Solutions, said. “A lot of businesses still have the attitude that security issues are something that happen to the other guy. We know that’s not the case. The new security assessment in Managed Workplace will help us get clients on board with security right from the beginning. We can easily use the new solution to run reports and access tools to demonstrate vulnerabilities with new clients during onboarding. We can also add this information to our executive reports for clients to showcase our proactive capabilities and reinforce our value to clients. This will help strengthen our relationships with clients and enhance the service we provide.”

To preview Managed Workplace 11 and its security assessment, stop by the AVG Business by Avast  booth #109 at ChannelCon 2017. More information about AVG Managed Workplace 11 can be found here.

The AVG Business by Avast portfolio provides solutions that extend across endpoint protection to complete network management to secure, simplify and optimize the IT experience for SMBs worldwide. The product portfolio reflects a unique and strong combination of security and managed services capabilities for both end-customers and channel partners, fueled by the company’s strengths as a remote monitoring and management solution provider with its own native security engine. AVG Business by Avast is also dedicated to the channel and has a comprehensive partner program in place to ensure partners can successfully position and sell the products, effectively secure SMBs, and enable profitable channel growth.