If you are aspiring to run your own managed services provider (MSP) business or already operate one, there has never been a more exciting time for MSPs than present. With more businesses adopting the cloud and staff working remotely from anywhere, it can be challenging for organizations to navigate this new territory, especially when it comes to providing and managing their cybersecurity requirements. Naturally, businesses are going to seek reliable and knowledgeable partners to help them navigate the challenging path of constantly fending off phishing and ransomware attacks, blocking malware, dealing with other nasty online threats in their efforts to remain compliant and keep their staff productive. This is where your services come in.
While MSPs generally offer a number of bundled services to their clients, in this article we are going to focus on security services and how Zenarmor combined with well-known open-source firewalls such as OPNsense or pfSense software can help MSPs differentiate and increase the value of their bundled services.
Why is using Zenarmor with your open-source firewall a good idea?
If you’ve been in the IT industry for a while, you have likely already come across or even deployed open-source firewalls such as pfSense and OPNsense for your clients, which is great. These firewalls provide many standard features businesses require to maintain their ongoing operations like VPN capabilities, IDS/IPS services, web filtering, etc. so you may be thinking; What more do I need? Well, by simply installing the Zenarmor plugin, you have now unlocked next-generation firewall (NGFW) capabilities such as real-time deep-packet inspection, AI-powered Threat Intelligence, application/web controls and reporting which is typically only available with expensive enterprise firewall appliances. With Zenarmor, you can immediately offer these features and increase value and security to your clients with little additional effort.
Why zero hardware dependency is a game changer for MSPs?
Because Zenarmor is totally software-defined, there is zero hardware dependency, meaning that you can essentially deploy Zenarmor on most off-the-shelf hardware or in the cloud across a wide choice of supported operating systems, not only limited to OPNsense or pfSense. You can also install Zenarmor on popular Unix/Linux-based operating systems like Ubuntu, RedHat, FreeBSD, and even Amazon Linux to name a few. There is no need for expensive hardware appliances and with Zenarmor’s software-defined architecture you can rapidly spin-up security services in under 10 minutes, anywhere you may need it, on-prem or in the cloud to provide immediate value to your clients. With this hardware-independent solution, even small or resource-constrained businesses can now benefit from enterprise-grade security without the need to pay high upfront costs for security appliances or commit to pricy maintenance contracts.
How does an MSP manage its clients’ Zenarmor deployments?
So you may be thinking this sounds great! Providing almost instant security wherever it’s needed, and unlocking additional value from my pre-existing OPNSense or PfSense deployments all makes perfect sense, but how do I efficiently manage all these firewalls? The short answers by using Zenconsole. Zenconsole is a cloud based manager that allows MSPs to govern all aspects of administering their clients’ Zenarmor firewall deployments including; subscriptions, upgrades, activations, and removals. Additionally, all firewall policies and configurations are managed on the clients behalf using a cloud based, single-pane of glass approach. Role-based, granular access controls are included so that you can assign individual members of your network management team the appropriate permissions needed to efficiently manage all your clients’ firewalls. Best of all, this functionally comes at no additional cost.
Can Zenarmor be integrated with existing MSP platforms and systems?
Speed and efficiency of service delivery are key for any MSP’s success and are most often achieved through the automation of tasks and workflows. Zenarmor’s RESTful API provides the ability to integrate with popular MSP automation platforms like ConnectWise or Kaseya, allowing you to optimize billing, monitoring, and policy management via these familiar platforms. Some MSPs may already be offering monitoring and logging services to their clients. The good news is that Zenarmor is also capable of easily integrating with existing SIEMs, syslog, and XDR solutions by allowing all log data collected by the firewall to be streamed to these services. Zenarmor is also capable of integrating with Microsoft Active Directory and 3rd party captive portals (such as the one included in OPNsense) which allows MSPs to define firewall policies around individual users and groups that already exist within your organization, regardless of the IP address or device they are using to access the network. Through these integrations, MSPs can almost instantly unlock additional value for their clients with minimal effort.
What other features does Zenarmor have that allow MSP to create value?
Because some of the day-to-day services offered by MSPs are carried out in the background, the real value of the services provided may go unnoticed by the client. With Zenarmor, MSPs have the ability to highlight their value-add by providing their customers with intuitive, easy-to-read reports that can be quickly customized depending on the targeted audience, so that no matter who is reading the report, anyone can understand why certain types of content were restricted or blocked entirely. The reports can also be helpful in identifying user patterns and can be used as a means to identify unwanted applications being used on the network, helping the MSP take control over shadow IT. Automated reporting can be scheduled daily, weekly, or monthly helping MSPs to communicate the ongoing value provided to their clients.
Another means of reinforcing the value the MSP provides to its clients’ customers is through Zenarmor’s ability to create and share custom blocked landing pages. These web pages are presented to a user whenever they access a website or app that is restricted due to threats or business policies via an easy to understand landing page. The page is presented to the end user explaining why the service or content that they are attempting to access is being blocked, including an explanation of why it is a potential cyber security threat to the organization. This approach not only helps to educate the end user about potential threats but also reduces the number of support tickets created by end users querying these issues, freeing up technical help desk staff so they can focus on important tasks and requests.
What does all this cost and how do MSPs bundle these services into existing packages?
So if you have made it this far, the extra value MSPs are able to provide to their clients using Zenarmor should be pretty clear. But what does all this cost, and how does an MSP charge its clients for these services? Fortunately, with Zenarmor this is very straightforward. Sunny Valley Networks offers a subscription-based pricing model, where an MSP can purchase individual firewalls, each with a pool of licenses covering the number of devices connected to the network that requires Zenarmor’s protection. These licenses can be dynamically allocated throughout the organization where they are needed. Because the licenses are offered on a per-user device model, MSPs can easily factor in these costs when creating service packages for their clients with no unexpected hidden costs or fluctuations. Licenses are offered as an annual or multi-year subscription which helps to make the ROI calculations straightforward. As an added benefit, should an MSP unfortunately lose a client for unforeseen reasons, licenses can easily be reallocated to another customer minimizing the financial impact to the MSP.
Some final thoughts…
Zenarmor truly provides one of the most feature-rich firewall solutions for the MSP market. With enterprise class security, zero hardware dependency, cloud-based, single pane of glass management, API integrations, and reporting, all made available through an easy to use and cost effective subscription-based model, it’s difficult not to recognize the significant value an MSP is able to create by utilizing Zenarmor. Don’t leave your clients unprotected. After all, they are looking to your organization to ensure the efficient and uninterrupted IT operations their business depends on.
Try Zenarmor on a 15-day trial, no credit cards required, and enjoy all the Business Edition features on offer, set up in 10 minutes or less. You’ll be glad you did.