Microsoft Security SPD - why it's worth careful consideration

The Microsoft Security SPD Series is a 3-part look at the Microsoft Security Solution Partner Designation, why it matters, the mechanics of attaining it and how the economics of SPD attainment works for partners.

Fact: improving security and privacy is the #1 IT objective for small to medium sized businesses in Asia-Pacific. Why?

Our Future of Operations study of SMBs across the region indicates that business leaders have more understanding of how cybersecurity incidents affect topline objectives for customer experience, revenue growth, innovation and market influence.

If I can be even more frank, when business leaders understand that the impact of cybersecurity incidents can cost them bonus payments, dividends, or even their tenure, it tends to accelerate perception shifts.

As a result, security is (finally) shifting from being a background IT function to being at the centre of business planning, cloud strategy, resilience, compliance and AI readiness. It’s a rich field of growing demand for solutions and services.

For Microsoft partners, Security SPD attainment aligns your business to this commercially important shift in SMB buyer behaviour. The designation tells the market that a partner is investing in in the skills, customer motions, and delivery capabilities needed to deliver more complex security outcomes to businesses. It creates deeper attachments to core Microsoft workloads and paves the way to recurring services revenue, over years and years.

In this article, I’ll highlight the security buying signals coming from the SMB customer segments in the APAC market and why these make Microsoft Security SPD attainment worthy of consideration.  

Security solution adoption intent signals.

Adoption intent trend data is a set of signals from our Future of Operations study. These show how SMB budgeting priorities are evolving in the security domain.

The chart below shows increased intent for adoption of Zero Trust Network Access, SaaS-delivered identity and access management, XDR, user and entity behaviour analytics, and security awareness training to mitigate human risk.

This article provides additional context around the adoption intent data from the Future of Operations study, but in general SMBs are maturing their approach, driven by greater reliance on cloud and SaaS, alongside the need to secure hybrid environments while reducing risk and improving compliance. The study links stronger security capability to outcomes such as faster incident response, reduced compliance gaps, fewer successful phishing or ransomware attacks, and increased confidence in data security standards.

For partners, this expands the opportunity into positioning more sophisticated security roadmaps, rather than having one-dimensional product focused conversations.

Another significant driver is the uptake of AI.  Forrester’s analysis found that 81% of SMBs had either formally implemented AI, were in the process of doing so or had AI implementations planned into their IT roadmaps through to the end of 2027. However, security and privacy concerns – particularly around data – are significant inhibitors to AI adoption and can stall plans to scale AI further from initial implementations.

As such, security investment and spend decisions are tightly connected to SMB confidence with using emerging technologies to drive transformation and deliver on their critical business objectives.

This gives partners a bigger strategic opening to offer assessments, design, deployment, integration, optimisation, training, and managed services. As SMBs become savvier about the business impact of cybersecurity incidents, they’re also looking for partners that can connect their security adoption plans to their objectives in other areas such as business continuity, data protection, governance, operational resilience and technology-led innovation.

Security service demand signals.

Security demand is not limited to software adoption. Data from the Future of Operations study shows increased demand for assessment, advisory, integration and ongoing support services. For example:

• 47% of SMBs are seeking cybersecurity assessments across their security operations.
• 38% are looking for services that will help them control the cost of their cloud workloads within the security domain.
• 37% seek services to help them with secure implementation of business applications.

These are strong signals for partners looking to create entry-point offers that can lead into remediation, implementation, optimisation, or managed services.

When customers are actively looking for help with both technology and services, validation of your capability matters more, and this is exactly where Microsoft Security SPD attainment really comes into play.

1. It is good business strategy to get in the way of planned investment and adoption.

SMBs are prioritising security more highly. They are adopting more advanced security approaches. They intend to invest more in this domain, and they are actively seeking external expertise to help them execute their priorities for improved security outcomes. The Security SPD provides partners with a stronger competitive position to pitch and win for market share.

2. It is good business strategy to align to where vendors are ramping up their investment and incentives focus.

Microsoft puts focus on SPD partners. SPD attainment opens doors for access to additional resources, eligibility for funding, and higher incentives. Distribution partners like Crayon will also be encouraged to prioritise SPD partners when it comes to service, marketing, and enablement.

3. It’s a solid commercial strategy to align capabilities to where the market is heading.

Microsoft Security SPD attainment positions you to create value exactly where customers and vendors will place a premium on your ability to do so.

Watch the Webinar. Read the Series.

For more information about the Microsoft Security SPD, check out our recent webinar on the topic.

In the next article, I’ll dive into the mechanics of the Security SPD and key considerations for getting underway with your attainment journey.