Todyl Offers Proof, Not Promises
Intra-platform GRC integrations and a new set of assurance alliances are part of the security vendor’s effort to help MSPs validate compliance with insurance and privacy regulations.
AI and security solutions, predictably, figure prominently on ConnectWise’s lineup of PitchIT contestants this year. So too, somewhat less predictably, does QBR software. Another issue the company apparently thinks MSPs want and need help with right now, though, is compliance, which shows up in products from three of the 25 vendors on this year’s PitchIT list. Not surprising, according to Sean Lardo, ConnectWise’s VP of IT Nation Communities, given how many rules, requirements, and regulations there are to comply with and the potential consequences for MSPs and end users who slip up.
“They could lose their whole business,” he says.
Todyl is aware of that danger too, as well as the burdens associated with avoiding it. Cyberinsurers and regulators want more than your word on compliance, observes Ken Patterson (pictured), the security vendor’s VP of community.
“They’re asking for proof,” he says. “MSPs, quite frankly, are not ready for this.”
Todyl can help, Patterson says, both through its platform, which imports reporting data from the vendor’s SIEM, MDR, and other products directly into its GRC solution, and through alliances with the partners featured on its recently introduced Assurance Marketplace.
There are four such organizations at present, each of which offers something cyberinsurers and other compliance enforcers value. Membership group GTIA offers third-party validation of cyber readiness through its Cybersecurity Trustmark program, certification and cyber warranty provider SPECTRA provides third-party validation of security best practices, insurer Ledgebrook offers better rates and coverage based on validated security evidence, and Optimize Cyber delivers pen testing and incident response services many privacy and safety regulations require. Todyl may add more companies, according to Patterson, but no more than a carefully curated few.
“We’re not looking to be a distributor,” he says.
The Assurance Marketplace is part of a broader MSP push at Todyl, which sells exclusively through the channel. Other examples include the virtual CISO it’s appointed to help partners advise clients and new courses it offers on delivering AI security services.
“My whole thing is about educating and enablement,” Patterson says.
That and community, which is closely tied to enablement in Patterson’s mind. Vendors often call the partners who sell and support their products their community.
“That’s not a community,” Patterson says. “We have to give back. There has to be a back and forth relationship between us and them.”
Preferably in person whenever possible. AI is sure to make vendors like Todyl more effective in the years ahead, says Patterson, who spoke with me at Rewst’s FLOW event in Nashville last month.
“It’ll never replace this though,” he said, pointing back and forth at us, “the direct face-to-face conversation.”