Precision Partnerships: Tailoring MSP Solutions for Private Equity Success

Private equity (PE) firms grapple with significant challenges in safeguarding sensitive data—from protecting investor documents spread across various platforms to navigating external sharing and compliance obligations. At the same time, resilient IT infrastructure is crucial in supporting the agility, scalability, and security necessary for successful investment strategies. You need both to maintain investor trust and drive higher ROI.   

 A managed service provider (MSP) that deeply understands the private equity industry and integrates resilient IT with defense-in-depth cybersecurity enables firms to consolidate these critical functions, reducing response times and costs while driving performance. With integrated expertise securing sensitive assets throughout investment lifecycles, purpose-built managed services streamline due diligence and post-acquisition integrations, ensure compliance, and maximize returns.   

Why an MSP for Private Equity?  

Operational resilience is pivotal in private equity for ensuring risk mitigation and value creation across portfolios. However, firms often face challenges finding specialized expertise in managed IT and robust data protection. High turnover and a shortage of skilled engineers with private equity experience make these resources expensive to retain.   

More private equity firms are turning to MSPs to address these challenges. Partnering with an MSP provides improved access to industry knowledge, specialized services, enhanced security, increased uptime, and scalability. The key is selecting someone who combines an in-depth understanding of private equity with extensive IT and cybersecurity capabilities.   

Consolidating cybersecurity, IT services, and governance under one specialized MSP can streamline security and technology management. Our data show that response times are up to 40 percent slower in multi-vendor environments. On the other hand, partnering with Agio for integrated cybersecurity and managed IT decreases the likelihood (by up to 80%) of vulnerabilities escalating into security incidents by up to 80%. 

With substantial experience serving alternative investment clients, Agio stays informed on emerging issues to take a proactive approach. By getting ahead of potential problems, we can prevent many disruptions altogether. When unexpected issues do occur, our teams leverage deep expertise to diagnose and address them quickly, minimizing disruption. 

Protecting Unstructured Data  

As a private equity firm, securing unstructured data poses immense challenges. Unlike data found in databases, unstructured data in emails, documents, and presentations is inherently difficult to control and safeguard. Frequent external sharing and compliance requirements around access controls and auditing complicate the issue. 

A specialized MSP can offer custom-fit solutions that match the intensive data-sharing private equity firms like yours deal with daily. Agio creates secure digital workspaces, allowing you to keep close tabs on document access across deal partners – whether those are your team members, investors, lawyers, or advisors. You determine who sees what and when.  

We integrate critical security protections, too, like access controls, endpoint security, firewalls, and round-the-clock security operations center (SOC) monitoring. That way, your firm stays compliant, but parties you actively work with can still conveniently access what they need through well-managed portals during deals.  

By leveraging managed services expressly built for private equity’s concentrated data risks, you uphold integrity across your sensitive documents and maintain trust among investors and regulators alike.   

Managing PortCo Risk  

Your portfolio companies are as integral to your success as your own firm. Constant management of active portfolio companies and new corporate targets presents unique cyber risks that an adept MSP can help address. Agio has extensive experience working with portfolio companies, managing their infrastructure, and implementing cybersecurity governance programs to help mitigate the inherent risk in your investments. We embed security-by-design into acquisition lifecycles via assessments, due diligence, and post-purchase integrations, putting guardrails around target investments. 

Before moving forward with potential deals or immediately upon acquiring a new company, your MSP should work closely with you to establish risk and present solutions for unified governance. Our data-centric risk assessment helps identify and mitigate risk for potential investments. We identify gaps by weighing your firm’s sensitive information with vulnerabilities in a target company’s configurations, policies, and controls.  

Post-acquisition, the right MSP further benefits your firm by designing ongoing company security roadmaps to align with evolving expansion strategies. By quickly addressing any outstanding policy or technology risks, Agio shores up security foundations. Critical operations like conventional IT support and security monitoring free your staff to work on higher priorities.  

Strategic Advisory Driving Resilience & Maximizing ROI  

In private equity, optimizing ROI hinges on the synergy of a robust IT infrastructure and stringent data security measures. Using the same partner to manage both is a strategic move. Bringing these two critical functions under one roof reduces the threat surface area, avoids sluggish response times, and improves efficiency and accountability throughout your firm. Agio’s extensive experience with private equity ensures that you have the right solutions for the seamless integration of infrastructure and cybersecurity.

As your advisor, Agio takes a deeply consultative approach to address private equity’s unique technology priorities throughout the investment lifecycle. We thoroughly evaluate current IT infrastructure and assets across portfolio companies, highlighting optimization areas tied to business growth strategies, and craft multi-year roadmaps to maximize efficiency, mitigate risks, protect the value of your investments, and, ultimately, deliver superior returns to investors.    

Meanwhile, our comprehensive cybersecurity controls safeguard sensitive financial data, investor information, and intellectual property, mitigating the risk of data breaches and associated economic losses. By preventing costly security incidents and maintaining investor trust, you protect the value of your investments and preserve your reputation in the market, ultimately driving higher ROI. 

Navigating Technology for Private Equity Success  

As private equity firms acquire high-growth startups and integrate diverse portfolios, data protection complexity and infrastructure scale pressures multiply exponentially. The right managed service provider is an invaluable accelerant uniquely positioned to transform these technology burdens into strategic advantages.  

A top-to-bottom provider like Agio integrates managed IT services and cybersecurity to streamline post-deal integration processes, reduce downtime, and minimize disruption to portfolio companies, ultimately enhancing value creation and investor returns.  

With our proven methodologies purpose-built for private equity, you know your sensitive assets and data, as well as portfolio infrastructure and controls, remain secured and compliant, enabling growth. We drive consistency, resilience, and maturity firm-wide; you successfully navigate the intricacies of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.  

Let us help accelerate your success. Contact us today.