Sophos MSP Partnership ‘a Logical Next Step’ for IT services Provider Aragorn

Partner Program•Managed Detection and Response (MDR)•MSP•Partner Case Study•References

Aragorn ICT Dienstverlening (Aragorn) is an IT services provider based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The Aragorn team provides IT and security services to more than 300 Partners in the region.

Jun 25 2024 By

“Sophos has always innovated and provided the solutions we need. Becoming a Sophos MSP partner was a logical next step for us to be able to provide the right solutions for our clients, and offer them greater flexibility.”

Niels de Waard, Business Development Manager, IT Services, Aragorn

Aragorn is an IT infrastructure provider and Sophos Managed Service Provider delivering IT support and security solutions to a client base of around 300 businesses in the Netherlands. The company has a strong focus on IT security and was an early adopter of Sophos. Today they provide Sophos MSP solutions to around 60-70% of its clients.

Business Challenges

Aragorn’s longstanding relationship with Sophos started in 2006 with the purchase of antivirus products for endpoints and servers, followed by firewalls. As cyberthreats increased and the landscape became more complex, a key challenge for Aragorn was ensuring security and protection for its clients’ systems and infrastructures 24/7. The company did not have the capability to manage this in-house. Aragorn also lacked flexibility with fixed-term agreements for products and solutions offered by other providers, so the team looked at securing more flexible arrangements. As a result, Aragorn turned to Sophos and opted to introduce Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR) into its solution offering, to provide 24/7 security, protection and support for its clients. Aragorn then became a Sophos MSP Partner in 2013, enabling the company to provide the Sophos product ecosystem and cybersecurity services to its Partners, supported by Sophos.

“24/7 threat detection and response is not something we have the capacity to do inhouse and neither do our clients, so Sophos MDR was a real game changer for us. The MDR team has it covered, and we know we’re looked after around the clock,” states Niels de Waard, Business Development Manager, IT Services, Aragorn

The Technical Solution

Aragorn was one of the first IT service providers to become a Sophos MSP in the region, taking advantage of the ability to access and sell the complete range of Sophos solutions on a flexible monthly fee basis.

The team at Aragorn is focused on offering the full range of Sophos solutions and provides Sophos MDR to around 90% of its clients. With Sophos MDR, Aragorn and its clients receive 24/7 security monitoring and a managed response to any cybersecurity incident or breach. This provides peace of mind that their IT infrastructure and data is protected, and it’s a more cost-effective solution than hosting a security center in-house. Sophos MDR provides:

  • Proactive 24/7/365 threat monitoring, investigation, and response performed by a team of highly trained expert analysts
  • The people, processes, and technology to detect and respond to threats so internal teams can focus on supporting the business
  • An expert team that stops advanced human-led attacks and neutralises threats before they disrupt business operations or compromise sensitive Partner data

Business Benefits

Aragorn experiences significant benefits from the MSP partnership and Sophos MDR for its own business and for its clients. Aragorn’s Business Development Manager Niels de Waard, notes that Partner feedback has been great. “Our relationship with Sophos is important to our clients. We can fix a lot of problems ourselves and our team is fully Sophos trained and certified, but if any cyberthreats occur at whatever point in time, we get instant support from Sophos, and our clients know that any issues will be dealt with promptly.”

Niels lists additional benefits of working with Sophos as:

  • A robust business model with recurring revenue
  • 24/7 security protection and threat management for clients with Sophos MDR
  • The ability to easily manage multiple clients’ security through Sophos Central
  • Access to an evolving ecosystem of Sophos solutions
  • A flexible and easy-to-manage monthly billing arrangement
  • Root cause analysis and guidance on preventing future threats

All staff at Aragorn have been Sophos trained and certified, either on the sales or technical side, and are well placed to effectively service their client base, supported by Sophos. Niels adds that importantly, the MSP partnership enables Aragorn to scale solutions quickly, making new client onboarding and the ability to add and remove users easy, which has contributed to business growth. 

“We’re not just providing a product, we’re supplying a solution and most importantly, flexibility and protection. That’s what our clients want and need.“ Niels de Waard, Business Development Manager, IT Services, Aragorn

About the Author

Sophos is a global leader and innovator of advanced security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, including Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and incident response services and a broad portfolio of endpoint, network, email, and cloud security technologies. As one of the largest pure-play cybersecurity providers, Sophos defends more than 600,000 organizations and more than 100 million users worldwide from active adversaries, ransomware, phishing, malware, and more. Sophos’ services and products connect through the Sophos Central management console and are powered by Sophos X-Ops, the company’s cross-domain threat intelligence unit. Sophos X-Ops intelligence optimizes the entire Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem, which includes a centralized data lake that leverages a rich set of open APIs available to customers, partners, developers, and other cybersecurity and information technology vendors. Sophos provides cybersecurity-as-a-service to organizations needing fully managed security solutions. Customers can also manage their cybersecurity directly with Sophos’ security operations platform or use a hybrid approach by supplementing their in-house teams with Sophos’ services, including threat hunting and remediation. Sophos sells through reseller partners and managed service providers (MSPs) worldwide. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com.