Cybersecurity is rewriting the technology advisor playbook
Cybersecurity is rewriting the technology advisor playbook
Publish Date: 2026-07-14 14:56:00
Source Domain: www.channeldive.com
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AI security fears and booming MSSP sales are pulling technology advisors into cybersecurity, as telco-focused holdouts weigh whether to jump in.
Cybersecurity vendors have historically gone to market through resellers, but TAs and tech services distributors are increasingly gaining share with their brokerage model. AI governance concerns, momentum for TA-aligned managed security service providers and ballooning TSD sales volume are drawing both customers and vendors to the agency motion. Devan Adams, principal analyst at Omdia, Channel Dive’s sister company, estimated that TSD security billings grew by 40%, from about $200,000 in 2021 to roughly $800,000 in 2025.
“Just a few years ago, we were launching security with practically no sales,” Avant Chief Strategy Officer Alex Danyluk told Channel Dive. “Now we have hundreds of trusted advisors engaging in security opportunities.”
It has been a long journey for the commission-based, vendor-managed route to market model that originated in telecom, and many TAs are still resistant to security.
It doesn’t make sense to Cynthia Ferrell, who has been sourcing security since she founded Team KC Telecom in 2020.
“I just cannot believe that you’re out here like, ‘I’m gonna get this client’s circuits and their voice and all these other things, but I’m not gonna help them protect their house,’” Ferrell said. “That just is mind blowing to me. I see that as my personal responsibility to protect them.”
The cybersecurity adoption gap highlights the generational differences in the TA market. The oldest remaining TA firms, born in the 90s and early 2000s, were almost all founded by former…
