The small business owner wears many hats. Salesperson, manager, marketer, accountant — the list goes on. One role that’s gotten harder for small business owners to fill in an information security officer or CISO.

Monitoring and maintaining the security of a business’ computers, websites, and connected apps has become more challenging as the number of SaaS platforms explodes.

According to data from Productiv, the average business today is using an incredible 254 SaaS apps. For enterprise organizations, that figure rises to 364.

It’s relatively easy to add new SaaS platforms to a technology stack. The hard part is keeping track of sensitive data that are shared, and ensuring every SaaS platform remains compliant with the latest security protocols.

In a larger organization, that’s where the role of a chief information security officer comes into play. A CISO works together with company managers, cyber security teams, and IT professionals to monitor the security of an organization’s apps, databases, computers, and websites. Unfortunately, few SMBs have the budget to staff their own cybersecurity departments.

Recognizing the problem, the SaaS security platform AppOmni recently added Eden Data, an IT services company, to its partner program. Eden Data specializes in providing IT services for startups and small and medium-sized businesses. The company deploys teams of former auditors to act as virtual chief information security officers for SMB clients.

AppOmni works with a number of security information and event management (SIEM) platforms, as well as other collaboration tools, to deliver event information from multiple SaaS apps to in-house security and IT teams. Aligning with Eden Data, which provides IT services to startups and SMBs, is meant to help AppOmni expand its network. The strategic partnership also puts AppOmni in the unique position of being one of the few SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) firms offering IT services for SMBs.

Eden Data’s security, compliance, and data privacy programs are custom for each organization based on that organization’s tech stack. They’re also scalable, so businesses can ramp up their security programs as they grow.

In a statement, Eden Data founder and CEO Taylor Hersom said he looks forward to the partnership’s impact, and he believes the alliance will further both companies’ efforts to offer startups and SMBs a comprehensive and streamlined approach to digital security.

Cybersecurity Threats on the Rise

The rapid expansion to remote work that took place during the pandemic left many smaller companies open to attack. Between 2020 and 2021, cyberattacks on small companies increased by more than 150%, according to RiskRecon, a company that evaluates cyber-security risk.

Nearly half (42%) of small businesses say they have experienced a cybersecurity breach, and 23% see potential cyberattacks as a top threat, according to a report by Intuit.

Cyber crimes are expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion by 2025. Small and mid-size businesses are 3x more likely to be attacked by cyber-criminals than larger businesses, in part because they often don’t have the security systems in place to keep the bad guys out.

A Path Forward for SMBs

The alliance between AppOmni and Eden Data comes at a pivotal time, both for AppOmni and the digital privacy and security market more broadly.

AppOmni received funding from Cisco Investments earlier this year, and it’s currently working to expand its security capabilities to cover additional SaaS security apps, including Snowflake, HubSpot, Cisco’s Duo Security, and Veeva. Partnering with AppOmni should give Eden Data access to a new class of startup clients, who could prove to be influential as the company continues to grow.