Over the past year we’ve seen higher adoption of virtualization, web applications and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environments. As these and similar trends develop, security threats are likely to continue to emerge with unprecedented speed and complexity, putting businesses of all sizes at risk.

Those most impacted, however, are the small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that often lack the resources and expertise to protect themselves against internal and external threats. Due to these rising threats, SMBs are required to shift their security strategy and priorities. But for most, the level of protection doesn’t always match the perceived threat. So how can you protect against this gap in IT security?

Fortunately, SMBs can rely on your expertise to enhance their IT security strategy. If you have a client that is planning to upgrade their current security infrastructure, you may want to consider looking more closely into Unified Threat Management (UTM) to strengthen their strategy. According to Webopedia, UTM is a security appliance that combines firewall, gateway anti-virus, and intrusion detection and prevention capabilities into a single platform. Essentially, it’s the strongest line of defense against the security threats that business have to face today.

However, if your clients are like the 51 percent of business owners who are unfamiliar with UTM, they may not fully understand the benefits it has to offer or how it differs from other security solutions. As their trusted business advisor, it’s your job to help them achieve a business-grade security posture, and that includes education on the latest solutions. Even if you don’t currently provide UTM services, you may consider reevaluating your security strategy as you head into the New Year. We’ll likely see increased adoption of UTM in 2017.

To help you get this conversation started, we’ve gathered data from Osterman Research’s 2016 Benchmarking Survey (sponsored by Cyren) that you can use in your next presentation.

See chart and original article here.

Author: Lily Teplow, Continuum