COMMENTARY: There is a clear growth opportunity that most MSSPs are still ignoring. We all talk about being full-coverage security partners, but a large set of endpoints inside customer environments is still not truly protected. Printers and similar devices hold sensitive data, sit on trusted networks, and yet rarely show up in the core service scope. Turning that gap into a standard, repeatable managed service is a straightforward way to increase MRR, strengthen retention, and walk into renewals with a different story than every other provider selling the same stack. It’s not about adding something new and complex; it’s about protecting what is already there and getting paid for it.
Today’s MSSPs all start to blur together.
Everyone leads with a similar stack of endpoint, network, email, and cloud protections, wrapped in the same SOC story and sold at similar price points. Margins are under pressure, RFPs feel like procurement ping-pong, and genuine differentiation is hard to come by.
The fastest way out of that commodity trap is simple: solve a big, expensive problem that your competitors are ignoring.
One of the largest and most overlooked of those problems is hiding in plain sight inside your customers’ environments: the print fleet and adjacent IoT endpoints.
Managed is not protected
In most organizations, printers are “managed,” but they are not protected.
Managed print contracts and internal teams do a good job with toner, paper, break/fix, and device refresh. OEMs provide their own device management tools. But almost all of that motion is about cost and uptime, not protection.
Meanwhile, printers and imaging devices:
- Commonly represent around 20–30% of network endpoints
- Receive, transmit, process, and store highly sensitive data
- Sit deep inside trusted network segments
- Are heterogeneous across OEMs, models, ages, and firmware levels
Despite this, in the typical environment:
- Devices ship with security features disabled and stay that way
- Default or weak passwords persist for years
- Open ports and protocols remain enabled long after they are needed
- Stored credentials and address books are rarely audited
- There is no consistent baseline, no monitoring for drift, and no clear owner
In short, roughly 20% of endpoints are functionally unprotected, and a single compromised printer can offer a bridge into email, file, and credential systems. That is an expensive problem for your customers and a missed opportunity for you.
Why this is becoming your problem, not just theirs
For years, print lived in a gray zone between the supply chain, IT, and security. That ambiguity is breaking down.
Boards, regulators, and insurers are asking harder questions about “all endpoints,” not just laptops and servers. High-profile incidents involving “forgotten” devices have raised awareness. At the same time, customers are consolidating vendors and looking to a smaller set of trusted partners to cover more of the risk surface.
From the customer’s perspective, their MSSP is their security partner. If 20% of their endpoints remain unprotected, it is increasingly difficult to argue that a security program is comprehensive.
That shift creates a window for MSSPs and IT solutions providers that are willing to lead. Educating customers about print fleet protection, and then offering a practical way forward, can become a key decision factor in vendor selection.
Turning an overlooked risk into a managed service
The good news: you do not have to reinvent your business to add print fleet protection. You already know how to turn complex technology into disciplined, repeatable services. This is another application of that core skill.
A practical approach looks like this:
1. Put print and imaging endpoints into your threat model
Start by explicitly including printers, multifunction devices, label/thermal printers, large-format devices, scanners, and similar imaging endpoints in your standard threat modeling and risk assessments.
This simple step changes the conversation. Instead of being “office equipment,” these devices are treated as what they have become: networked endpoints that must be protected.
2. Lead with discovery and assessment
Before you talk about tools, lead with visibility.
Design a standardized print fleet cyber assessment you can deliver for any client:
- Inventory a defined number of devices across sites
- Evaluate a focused set of high-impact configuration items: credentials, ports/protocols, encryption, logging, stored credentials, “phone home” behavior, and firmware currency
- Evaluate key processes: governance, change management, monitoring, remediation, firmware testing and rollout, certificate management, and documentation
Package the output as a scored, executive-ready report in plain language. Tie findings to real-world incident patterns and cost bands: downtime, incident response, regulatory exposure, and reputational risk.
This assessment accomplishes three things at once: it educates, it quantifies, and it sets you up as the logical partner to fix what you just revealed.
3. Define a clear baseline for “protected”
Next, turn your assessment criteria into a formal baseline: a written print fleet protection standard your customers can understand and adopt.
That standard should be vendor-agnostic and outcome-based, answering questions like:
- How should identities and passwords be handled on these devices?
- Which ports and protocols are allowed, and which must be disabled?
- What level of encryption and certificate management is required?
- What telemetry must these devices send, and where?
- How quickly should configuration drift be detected and corrected?
- How are firmware and new vulnerabilities handled over time?
By publishing a baseline, you move the conversation from “we know it’s risky” to “here is what ‘protected’ looks like, and here is how we will measure it.”
4. Integrate print protection into your existing operations
You do not need a separate business to deliver this. You need a playbook.
Map print fleet protection into your current operating model:
- Clarify which team owns ongoing configuration management for these devices
- Define how alerts and exceptions flow into your SOC or NOC
- Standardize how changes are requested, approved, and implemented
- Decide what is handled centrally vs. on-site or through partners
The goal is to make print fleet protection feel like a natural extension of what you already do for other endpoints: consistent, measurable, and boring in the best way.
How this grows your MSSP business
Done right, adding print fleet protection is not a distraction. It is a growth lever.
Higher MRR per client
Print fleets are large. Even modest per-device pricing aggregates into meaningful recurring revenue. Because you are building on existing relationships and infrastructure, incremental margins can be attractive.
Better win rates and stickier relationships
When you walk into an RFP or renewal conversation with hard data on an unprotected 20% of the environment, you shift the frame. You are not just another MSSP quoting a similar stack; you are the one showing the customer where their next major incident is most likely to start, and how to prevent it.
Customers who rely on you to protect an expanded set of endpoints are harder to displace. The more of their real-world operations you help protect, the more embedded you become.
Stronger outcomes, fewer surprises
Every incident you help prevent is less unplanned work for your team and less damage to your reputation. Bringing printers and adjacent IoT endpoints into scope closes a common path attackers use and reduces the number of “we never thought about that device” post-mortems.
Where to start
You do not need to solve print fleet protection for every client overnight.
Start with three of your existing customers:
- Include printers and imaging endpoints in your next review.
- Offer a focused assessment to quantify their current state.
- Use the results to propose a phased protection program aligned with their risk and budget.
From there, you can refine the playbook, standardize the service, and roll it out across your base.
In a market where most MSSPs are fighting over the same problems with the same tools, the advantage will go to those who protect what others still ignore. If roughly 20% of your customers’ endpoints remain unprotected, the question almost asks itself:
Are you really delivering managed security if you are leaving that much risk on the table?
Now is the time to turn that gap into your next growth engine.
