N-Able: Why MSPs Should Upgrade from Antivirus to EDR

Name: N-Able: Why MSPs Should Upgrade from Antivirus to EDR
Uploaded: 2026-08-01T07:03:12-04:00
Duration: 3 min 57 s
Description: https://www.n-able.com Peter Hughes, director of Aura Technology knows the world of MSPs inside and out. That’s why he sees the urgency of upgrading from AV to EDR. See his thoughts on how N-able has helped him and his company with this process and how...

N-able

08/01/2026

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Transcript

So I think MSPs should be moving from AV to EDR mainly because the threat landscape has moved on. Traditional AV is no longer suitable to address the needs of this landscape. Traditional DAT signatures just no longer really cut it and you need to be looking at the AI, the features of EDR that actually are able to pick up threats that traditional AV can't and then basically be able to respond to them. I think the business benefits of moving from AV to EDR are specifically around protection for the MSP in terms of you want to ensure that your customers are safe and when selling fixed price services you want to be able to control the level of support that you have to deal with from a security threat and ultimately you don't want them and having an EDR in place is going to assist you certainly in preventing those threats happening in the first place. But secondly, from a business point of view you want to ensure your customers are safe, that's good for you, it's good for the customers and it's good for your business. So our security business has grown significantly over the last few years mainly due to obviously the change in the landscape in terms of how security has changed and we've had to adopt to that and that's given us new opportunities, it's given us new products that we can take to market through EDR and other security services and we've taken the time to develop a security stack that we can offer our customers so that we can make it affordable to them and where different customers need the more advanced security services they can indeed take them but we would always ensure that every single customer has a foundational level of security services and primarily that's always backed as a baseline with an EDR solution. Enable I feel has supported us significantly in helping us grow our security business mainly by helping us have clear products to go to market with, certainly from a point of view of EDR and making that available to us from a commercial perspective that works and allows us to sell it on to our customers in the correct way but additionally through training, through the events where we can go and learn more about security, learn from our peers and understand how we should be protecting our customers from security threats. So I think it's very important for MSPs to look to take on a managed EDR service mainly because trying to get hold of security professionals that absolutely are qualified and know the tools back to front and are able to respond in the correct way are very hard to find at the moment and it's a very expensive 24-7 service that you may need to set up. From my perspective, what keeps me up at night is the changing landscape of security. It is a concern, it's a concern for us and for our customers, however it's an interesting development that keeps us focused and keeps us focused on ensuring our customers are safe, adopting new tools, processes, implementations and actually I think the security threats have always been around. We're now much more aware of them, it's out there, it's something that we can all take care of and there really is no reason not to put solutions in place to address security needs but it is a concern that every MSP should be aware of.

TL;DR

Traditional antivirus relying on signature-based detection is insufficient for modern threats; EDR's AI capabilities are necessary to detect and respond to advanced attacks.
Implementing EDR as a baseline security service helps MSPs control support costs from security incidents while protecting customers under fixed-price service agreements.
Aura Technology has grown their security business by developing tiered security stacks with EDR as the foundation, making advanced protection affordable and accessible to all customers.

Summary

In this customer testimonial, Peter Hughes, Director of Aura Technology, explains why managed service providers should transition from traditional antivirus to endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. Hughes argues that signature-based antivirus is no longer adequate for today's threat landscape, emphasizing that EDR's AI-driven capabilities can detect and respond to threats that legacy AV misses. He describes how implementing EDR as a baseline security service has enabled Aura Technology to grow their security business by offering tiered protection stacks to customers while controlling support costs associated with security incidents. Hughes credits N-able with providing commercially viable EDR products, training resources, and peer learning opportunities that have supported this business transformation. He acknowledges the challenge of building in-house security expertise and advocates for managed EDR services as a practical alternative to hiring expensive 24/7 security staff.

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction and Background
0:08 - Why MSPs Need EDR
0:38 - Business Benefits of EDR
1:13 - Growing Security Business with EDR
2:04 - N-able's Role in Security Growth
2:40 - The Case for Managed EDR
3:05 - Addressing Security Concerns

Key Quotes

0:24 "Traditional DAT signatures just no longer really cut it and you need to be looking at the AI, the features of EDR that actually are able to pick up threats that traditional AV can't and then basically be able to respond to them."
0:50 "When selling fixed price services you want to be able to control the level of support that you have to deal with from a security threat and ultimately you don't want them and having an EDR in place is going to assist you certainly in preventing those threats happening in the first place."
1:51 "We would always ensure that every single customer has a foundational level of security services and primarily that's always backed as a baseline with an EDR solution."

FAQ

Why should MSPs move from antivirus to EDR?

The threat landscape has evolved beyond what traditional signature-based antivirus can address. EDR solutions use AI to detect and respond to threats that legacy AV cannot identify, providing better protection for both MSPs and their customers.

What are the business benefits of EDR for MSPs?

EDR helps MSPs control support costs by preventing security incidents, which is especially important when offering fixed-price services. It also enables MSPs to develop tiered security stacks that make advanced protection affordable while ensuring every customer has baseline security coverage.

Categories:

» Cybersecurity » Endpoint Security
» Data Protection

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TL;DR

Summary

Chapters

Key Quotes

FAQ

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