MSSP Alert Announced their annual Top 250 MSSPs company list for 2021. This is the 5th time they have presented this list conducted via their worldwide survey during the months of April into August and have a stringent criteria for candidates to make the list as follows:
- Annual recurring revenues
- Profitability
- Business growth rate
- Cyber professional headcount
- Managed security services offered
- MSSP Alert’s editorial coverage of MSSPs worldwide
- Third-party industry honours (i.e., Gartner, Forrester, IDC, etc.)
This is the first time Nclose has featured as a ranker listed at the 133rd spot with only 4 African countries to make the entire list. More significantly is that Nclose is the only South African MSSP to feature on the list alongside some heavy-hitting internationals in the cybersecurity industry which is a phenomenal achievement.
Nclose’s Stephen Osler, Co-Founder and Business Development Director conducted a Q&A interview regarding the achievement and here is what he had to say:
- What inspired the MSSP’s original launch, and has your mission changed or evolved over the years?
- “We believed we could do things better, and we still believe we can do things better. This challenges the entire team to focus on improving our services to our customers and encourages us to detect more real incidents, respond to those incidents and remediate in an effective manner”.
- Please tell us a bit more about your MSSP’s market focus. Perhaps mention how many customers you have, size of average customer, vertical focus, regions you serve, etc.?
- “We currently serve customers in most major sectors however the financial services, legal and retail markets receive the majority of our attention. Our customer size averages between 1000 – 20000, however we have a few customers over with 50000 end points”.
- How did your MSSP evolve in 2021? For instance, did you introduce new managed security services, hire new talent, raise funding, build new partnerships, adjust sales strategies, etc.?
- “The seamless integration between two teams (MDR and MSS) that were historically separate, this gives Nclose the ability to implement remediation tasks and assisting with remediation of incidents managed by our MSS team”.
- What was your company’s single smartest business move in 2021?
- “To partner with a people development strategist to ensure our good skills stick around and to help us attract good talent, as well as recruiting more in-house talent to develop new and/or revolutionise existing services even further. It’s important to us that we maintain a high standard for our cliental and those that represent the Nclose brand”.
- What are your company’s top business and/or technology priorities for 2022?
- “Ensuring we grow more cyber security talent to address the skills shortage and to address cloud-based threats more. Our company was founded on the basis that there was a need to address these threats and there were not enough people around with the expertise. We have dedicated resources to growing our existing talent as well as grooming talent for the future – we are a company that strongly believes in sharing our knowledge”.
- How are you funding business growth? (For example: From cash flow, loans, financing, friends and family, angels, venture capital, private equity, etc.)
- “Self-funded”.
- Are you taking any specific steps to address U.S. and/or international compliance mandates such as CMMC, the U.S. Presidential Executive Order on cyber, etc.? If so, what steps?
- “Not at this stage, the majority off our customers are in Southern Africa with a few in Europe and the Middle East”.
- Any other info you’d care to share about your business?
- “Being in on the southern tip of Africa we are poised to take on more customers in Europe and the Middle East. We want to make the most of our strategic position and build long lasting customer relationships and eventually look at further expansion as we grow in our own capacity”.
- Your thoughts on being the only South African to feature on the list?
- “It’s an incredible achievement for us, especially being the only South African to feature on the list, which is a fantastic indication of the recognition and direction that our company is heading towards. In the future we look forward to featuring higher on the list”.