Acronis: ‘Automation Is Key’ For MSPs

The rising malware tide makes it all the more important for MSPs to utilize automation to keep themselves and their customers safe, said executives at the Acronis #CyberFit Conference.

MSPs are having a hard time navigating the cyber challenges of remote work, but automation can help. That’s the conclusion outlined in the Cyber Readiness Report unveiled by Acronis during its #CyberFit conference in Miami this week. CRNtv discussed the topic with Candid Wuest, vice president of Cyber Protection at Acronis.

“We see that automation is key for the MSP because nobody has enough resources, right? The threats are just piling up. I mean, every day we see 500,000 new malware threats being printed,” he said. “We might not even know which laptops they’re using at home because you think they might use the corporate laptop, but they might be using their personal computer or they might be using a USB hard drive for doing the backups, where they also store their holiday pictures.”

Wuest said Acronis has made it easy by integrating automation into its cyber platform.

“We already integrated backup with security and manageability,” he said. “You don’t really have to automate or backup, restore after a ransomware attack because it’s happening automatically. You don’t even need to click a button. As soon as we detected a ransomware attack, any files that have been tampered with, they will be restored. Ultimately, this integration already helps you save time and focus on the real business.”

Automation has proven to be particularly valuable for NerdstoGo, which offers computer repair and IT support services for residential and commercial clients. CRNtv discussed how the company is using Acronis’ automation tools to build out its franchises.

“So when an owner opens up a NerdstoGo, we give them all of the tools that they need to get started., ... portals, sometimes manual tools, we set them up with a storefront, all those things. So, what we’re doing now is the best practices, the compliance measures, the things that we’re dealing with while supporting small business, we’ve built that,” said Brian Kane, senior director of technology with NerdstoGo.

“We‘ve structured that system for them and automated so many of those pieces, and we give that to them. That’s part of the package. Our goal is really to be America’s small business IT department,” he added. “With Acronis, we’ve been able to pull many different types of backup together into one solution.”