Every few years, someone declares a ‘new era’ of cyber security. We build bigger SOCs, throw more analysts at the alerts and stitch together another dashboard to improve visibility. Then the same thing happens. An attack slips through, the logs are unread and everyone swears we will do better next time.
The truth is, the traditional MSSP model, where you own every console and appliance, no longer scales. It is not about who has the biggest SOC or the thickest stack of tools. Instead, it is about who is best connected to the intelligence, automation and telemetry that matter.
MDR as a service
We are watching the market shift fast towards managed detection and response (MDR) as a service ecosystems. This is a true partnership model in which global vendors and local MSPs work together. The vendor brings round-the-clock threat intelligence, telemetry and machine learning, while the MSP delivers local context, compliance and the authority to act.
The MDR market is growing at a record pace, from roughly $3.5 billion in 2023 to over $15 billion by 2030. Another estimate pegs it at $4.19 billion in 2025, reaching $11.3 billion by 2030. Everyone is realising that building an in-house SOC from scratch in this economy and skill climate is just not viable.
Skills shortage
The global cyber security talent shortage now exceeds 5 million unfilled roles. No local team, no matter how talented, can keep pace with that kind of churn while staying 24/7 vigilant.
And even when you have the people, they are buried in noise. SOC analysts face thousands of daily alerts, most of them false positives, leading to burnout and missed incidents. The irony is that the tools that promised to simplify life have made it more complicated. We have automated alert generation without automating the decisions that matter.
The new model sees fewer humans, better machines and smarter responses
The best MDR providers and, increasingly, the best MSPs, are flipping that script. They own less and integrate more. Instead of buying every tool under the sun, they connect to existing data sources, such as endpoint, identity, e-mail, network and cloud telemetry.
Then they lean on automation to triage, correlate and escalate only what needs a human brain. It is not that people are replaced but that they are finally used where they make a difference.
What matters most is response time, ie, how quickly you can isolate a host, cut off a compromised account or block a malicious domain. The latest Mandiant M-Trends report shows median dwell times have fallen to 10 days, but that still leaves more than enough room for ransomware to infiltrate. The ones winning are those who can act in minutes, not hours.
For South African MSPs, this is about survival
Margins are thin, compliance demands are rising and every customer wants 24/7 protection for less than the cost of a service desk licence. The answer is not more people or products, but better integration.
MDR as a service gives South African MSPs the reach of global SOCs without the overhead. It provides customers with faster detection and measurable results, without the internal chaos of managing multiple consoles.
The blunt truth
We are past the point where owning everything is a badge of honour. In 2025, it became a liability. The best cyber security providers are those best connected to global intelligence, cloud-native telemetry and automation pipelines that do the heavy lifting while humans focus on judgment.
And as someone who has been building, breaking and fixing networks for over 30 years, I can tell you that control is overrated if you cannot keep up. The future of cyber security is about trusting the ecosystem and acting fast when it counts.
Share