By June Ramli
Sydney, Nov 4: Acronis turned Sydney’s Darling Harbour into a floating ideas lab last month by using a harbor cruise to brief managed service providers (MSPs) on where its platform is headed next: deeper compliance tooling built into cybersecurity.
The event, part product roadmap and part partner workshop, framed compliance as the new battleground for MSPs as governments tighten rules and insurers raise the bar following a steady drumbeat of breaches.
The company outlined plans for a new “Compliance Navigator” — a dashboard-style feature designed to map regional and industry obligations to the controls already available in the Acronis stack.
The goal is to help partners run gap analyses, generate evidence, and maintain customers’ audit readiness without juggling multiple tools.
Speakers linked the push to Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy 2023–2030, which phases in tougher expectations for citizens, small and mid-sized businesses, and critical sectors.
While the Essential Eight remains a common checklist, presenters argued it leaves execution gaps, especially around email security and measurable outcomes for smaller firms.
Acronis pitched its integrated approach — combining backup, EDR/XDR, email security, archiving, and user training — as a way to translate policy guidance into day-to-day operations.
Training and enablement were also high on the agenda.
Acronis said it is expanding role-based training for technical and sales teams, adding pre-assessments to tailor content and scheduling. With breach-reporting clocks now measured in hours rather than weeks, partners were urged to tighten workflows around detection, response, and evidence gathering.
Public-sector case studies brought the strategy to life.
One council-focused project showcased a community engagement platform using AI sentiment analysis to sort large volumes of public feedback into themes that inform service improvements.
Other initiatives reported a 100 percent rise in digital sessions at community centres and a 50 percent drop in venue tour requests after spaces were digitised with LiDAR — time back for staff, and faster answers for residents.
Acronis also used the event to highlight its sports marketing partnerships, offering MSPs opportunities to align with major teams and events through long-term technology collaborations or short-term branding programs — visibility designed to build both credibility and connections.
Between demos, safety briefings, and prize draws that included gaming consoles and signed memorabilia, the mood on deck remained upbeat.
Attendees swapped strategies, took selfies against the Sydney skyline, and traded notes on everything from compliance reporting to customer retention.
From the waterline of Darling Harbour, the message was clear: cybersecurity tools alone are no longer enough. In 2025, the winning formula is security, compliance, and enablement — delivered as a service, proven with evidence, and packaged so businesses can actually use it.
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