Tom Harrison, VP Cyber Risk | SPECTRA
One of our certified MSPs was coming up on a SpectraCare Cyber Warranty renewal for one of their clients. Routine enough. We asked for evidence that the client’s environment was still at the same level of security or better. Standard process.
What came back had gaps.
The evidence package showed out of support for Windows 10 devices still running in the environment. And a VMware server that had a known ransomware exposure history. The MSP knew about the VMware issue. They’d had the conversation with the client before. The client knew it too. But nothing had moved.
That’s a common situation. An MSP flags a risk, the client nods, the meeting ends, and the fix goes back on the list where it stays for another quarter.
What changed this time
The renewal created a forcing function that a sales call can’t.
We pushed back. Not harshly, but directly. We can get this warranty renewed, but we need to see a remediation plan for both issues first. The MSP went back to the client with something different than an opinion. They had a third party saying, “here’s what we found, here’s what it means, and here’s what needs to happen before coverage continues.”
The Windows 10 problem turned out to have a solution already in place. The client had a special Microsoft license that kept those devices in support through the end of the year and a migration plan ahead of that deadline. No issue. Done.
The VMware server took longer. But it got fixed. The client moved. Not because the MSP pushed harder than before, but because the stakes were clear and the evidence was in writing.
What Most Insurers would have seen nothing
External scans would not have surfaced the VMware issue. MDR telemetry wouldn’t flag an aging server that hasn’t triggered an incident yet. The underwriters writing that client’s policy had zero visbility ,into either problem. They would have found out at claim time. And possibly challenged the payment of the claim. Or denied it entirely depending on what was disclosed in the insurance application.
That’s the gap that certification actually fills. Not a checkbox. Not a score. A review of the full stack across all the controls that matter, documented and tied to real coverage decisions.
When the inspection finds something, it gives the MSP something they almost never have in that client conversation, a third-party position that isn’t their opinion.
What this means for your business
Every MSP we work with has clients like this. Environments where risks are known, conversations have happened, and nothing has moved. The client isn’t hostile. They’re just busy, and the fix doesn’t feel urgent enough to schedule.
The warranty changes that dynamic. It gives you a structure to go back to a client not as the vendor who wants to sell them an upgrade, but as the partner who’s protecting their coverage and business. That’s a different conversation. It closes differently.
It also opens revenue that wasn’t moving. The VMware fix means billable hours. The Windows 10 Migration means a new license and work that comes with it. These aren’t upsells you pitched. They are remediation items the he client already knew they needed, and now they have a deadline and a justification. You also get the documentation to back it up. Not your word against their hesitation. Evidence, in writing, from an independent review.
MSPs who are working this angle are finding that certification doesn’t just differentiate them on the proposal. It changes how they operate with existing clients. Renewals become account reviews. Account reviews surface risks. Surfacing risks before an issue or a claim is exactly what a trusted IT partner does.
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