Beyond the Box: CISOs Demand More than 'Standard' from MSSPs

The term "managed services" has long been associated with a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach. For Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), a pre-packaged solution that doesn't align with their unique technical environment, budget, or strategic vision is a non-starter. The aim isn't just to buy a service, it's to build cyber resilience: the organizational ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from cyber threats without significant business disruption.

A recent analysis of our conversations with security leaders reveals that CISOs at both midsize and enterprise companies are moving past simple feature comparisons. They are actively seeking one core attribute from their Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) for Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Security Operations Center (SOC) services: flexibility. 

This isn't only about a custom price quote. It's about a fundamental shift in the vendor-client relationship. CISOs with a goal to achieve cyber resilience realize they must move from a transactional arrangement to a collaborative MSSP partnership.

Let’s look at how this differs from CISOs at enterprise companies versus midsize companies.

The Enterprise CISO: A Call for Strategic Agility and Resilience

For large enterprises, "flexibility" is a nuanced, strategic demand. Your environment is complex, your internal teams are sophisticated, and your security needs are constantly in flux. You’re not looking for a supplier. You’re looking for a partner that can adapt as you grow, directly supporting your cyber resilience strategy.

Here's what flexibility means to the enterprise CISO and how it builds resilience:

• Commercial and Contractual Flexibility: Rigid contracts can become a liability when business needs or internal capabilities shift. CISOs push for flexibility in pricing and terms to ensure the service scales with their evolving risk profile. This is about building financial resilience, allowing the organization to adjust its security spend without lock-in to a static, outdated contract. A partner who absorbs minor changes without a costly change order is proving a shared commitment to the long-term mission, not just the initial statement of work (SOW).

“When we started with the MSSP we were just building out our security team, so the split was 80/20. As we fleshed out the team over the next two years, we moved to a more hybrid approach with our team doing 2/3 and the vendor doing 1/3. They started failing to meet KPIs. They had the opportunity to help us continue to innovate, but they didn’t. So, we moved faster to end the contract. We believe the need for a partner in this space is essential…” CISO, Enterprise CPG

• The Hybrid Engagement Model: The enterprise security team is rarely starting from scratch. CISOs are seeking an MSSP that can operate in a hybrid or shared service model, seamlessly defining handoffs and responsibilities. This requires a partner willing to work closely with your internal team and adjust to your business context. This collaborative approach builds operational resilience by enabling a smoother, more coordinated response to incidents and by preventing the "we vs. them" dynamic that can cause delays in critical moments.

“Our cyber defense lab (CDL) team likes to have access to the platform so they can see the kind of rules that are in place and the evaluation. They want to be able to learn from the experts about what's going on and inject any extra context they have about the industry that might be useful that are outside the standard offerings of the MSSP. So that partnership is quite important.” Senior Security Engineering Manager, Global Energy

• Technical and Process Integration without Disruption: Enterprise tech stacks are a fortress built over years. The MSSP cannot be a siloed solution. Instead, it must prove technical flexibility through a vendor-agnostic approach by integrating with existing systems, such as Microsoft, Google, and Cisco, including various Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms and ticketing tools. The ability of the MSSP's platform to support and work within the client’s chosen tools is critical. This integration ensures technical resilience, preventing a new security service from becoming another point of failure or a source of operational friction.

“The first question is, what do you collect? Is it EDR? Is it email gateway? Is it web gateway? Is it CASB? What are the things you're collecting? Do you connect to my SIEM? Do you support my SIEM? Do you support my ticketing system? Integration is the biggest question. Are you able to work with what I have or am I going to have to invest in a whole new thing?” CISO, Enterprise Healthcare

• Tailored Service Offerings: From a CISO's perspective, flexibility means the ability to tailor services based on specific needs. This includes granular control over coverage (e.g., 24x7 vs. 5x12), on-demand services like threat hunting, and specialized expertise in unique environments like IT/OT and IoT. The MSSP must fit the client's vision and strategy, not the other way around. This flexibility builds threat resilience by ensuring a laser-focus on the specific threats and risks faced by the organization, rather than spending resources on generic coverage.

“The MSSP may not be covering a certain system, but they help us with the architecture of it and defining what that should look like. It’s about helping us to look at the overall security posture and architecture and what we have in place, where the gaps are, and if they have a way of using our other tools to augment what they provide. It’s really about how flexible they are in building the relationship.” CISO, Enterprise Consumer Health

For enterprise CISOs, the payoff from a flexible MSSP partnership is the combination of financial, operational, technical, and threat resilience which all factor into your goal to achieve cyber resilience.

The Mid-Size CISO: A Demand for Practical Partnership and Resilience

In our conversations, midsize CISOs didn’t use the word "flexibility" as often but their needs make a more urgent demand for it. For them, an MSSP is not just a strategic partner; it's an extension of an often smaller and overstretched team. For these organizations, flexibility is a key ingredient for building resilience from the ground up.

Here's what flexibility means to the midsize CISO and how it fosters resilience:

• Seamless Operational Integration: Midsize companies need an MSSP that can work within their existing environment, not force a migration. This includes the ability to use the client’s cloud environment and to deeply integrate with existing SIEMs. The MSSP must be willing to learn and tune to the client's specific environment to reduce noise and deliver true alerts. This hands-on, adaptable approach builds environmental resilience, enhancing rather than disrupting the existing operational ecosystem.

“The MSSP we chose stepped into our cloud environment. And we're able to use our cloud locations and systems to build. The process to gather data to build a SIEM in our environment using their expertise and then they very specifically helped us build the run books, the documentation allowing us to transfer from them over time and we talk through this during the agreement.” Senior VP of Information Security, Midsize Technology

• The Partner-as-Team-Member Model: The midsize CISO's team is often a small group of highly dedicated individuals. They are looking for an MSSP that acts as a true partner. This means an MSSP with security experts willing to transfer knowledge, provide documentation, and help build the client's internal capabilities over time. This collaborative model builds organizational resilience by empowering the internal team through sharing critical security knowledge. It’s about helping the internal team grow and preparing them to handle more on their own over time.

“What I've experienced in all cases is you're working toward achieving a hybrid model where [the MSSP] is providing a service to you in conjunction with your in-house team that's going to work collaboratively as a team.” Head of IT, Midsize Financial Services 

• Broad and Adaptable Service Bundles: The midsize CISO is looking to get the most value from their investment. They need an MSSP that offers a wide range of specific services—from threat hunting to red teaming—in bundles or tiers to meet their needs. A practical example is a flexible retainer they can apply to other services, if not fully used for incident response, showing a commitment to the client's success. This adaptability builds response resilience by providing a safety net of diverse services, ensuring the organization can pivot its resources to address the most pressing threats at any given time.

“One thing we were looking at as part of the overall services incident response retainer was flexibility for how that would apply. So, if we don't use the retainer throughout the year, at the end of the year can we use it for other types of services?” Director of Security Engineering, Midsize Financial Services

By building a flexible relationship with an MSSP, midsize CISOs establish the environmental, organizational, and response resilience they need to have confidence in business continuity in the face of a security event.

The Bottom Line: Prioritize Cyber Resilience with a Flexible MSSP Partnership

The message from our conversations with security leaders is clear. CISOs are looking for more than a standard MDR or SOC service. They are demanding a new kind of partnership—one that is commercially, operationally, and technically flexible.

For MSSPs, the measure of their value isn’t the breadth of their feature list, but their willingness to adapt, integrate, and collaborate with customers to build true cyber resilience. 

For CISOs, it's a powerful reminder to prioritize vendors that show a genuine commitment to being a flexible and evolving partner, not just another supplier.