Why buying separate cyber services doesn’t stack up for SMEs

When it comes to cyber security, many small-to-mid-sized businesses take a familiar path. They procure a handful of point solutions or ‘best-of-breed’ tools and assume the sum of the parts adds up to solid protection.

A vulnerability scan. A phishing test. Some cyber awareness training. Perhaps dark web monitoring for reassurance. Individually, these services seem sensible, even affordable. Collectively, they often cost more and deliver less than business leaders expect.

This is the problem CCL Protect was built to solve.

The hidden cost of buying cyber security in pieces

Point cyber services are usually priced to look attractive in isolation. But once realistic usage is factored in - think repeated testing, licensing models, and refresh cycles - the cost quickly escalates.

Based on CCL’s market research into comparable point products, a typical SME buying:

• vulnerability scanning
• phishing assessments
• cyber awareness training
• dark web monitoring

can expect to spend £11,600+ per year for an equivalent level of coverage. And that figure only tells part of the story.

It doesn’t account for the internal time spent:

• coordinating multiple suppliers
• interpreting different reports
• deciding what’s urgent and what can wait

Nor does it guarantee consistency. Many point services are run annually or ad hoc, leaving long gaps where exposure quietly increases. One-off assessments create snapshots, not resilience. So today’s clean vulnerability scan doesn’t stop new exposures appearing tomorrow. A single phishing test doesn’t change behaviour. Annual training rarely shifts long-term risk.

Effective cyber security is predicated on continuity, on the ongoing reduction of exposure, not occasional reassurance. That requires regular testing, trend visibility, and the ability to see whether risk is genuinely improving over time. And this is where most point solutions fall down: not because the services or tools are bad, but because they’re disconnected and unsustained.

An integrated approach built for how SMEs actually work

CCL Protect takes a deliberately different approach. For a single subscription from £7,800 per year, organisations receive:

• Regular vulnerability scanning
• Regular phishing assessments
• Ongoing cyber awareness training
• Dark web monitoring with context and guidance
• Quarterly business/progress reviews

These elements are designed to work together, not sit in separate dashboards owned by different suppliers. Findings are explained in plain English, with pragmatic advice that reflects the realities of running a business without in-house cyber specialists. The result is protection that is not only easier to manage, but materially more effective.

Better protection doesn’t come from more tools.

SMEs don’t struggle with cyber security because they lack solutions. They struggle because responsibility is fragmented and insight is buried in technical outputs.

Buying separate or ‘best-of-breed’ services often creates overlap in some areas and blind spots in others. Worse, it places the burden of interpretation and prioritisation on people who were never hired to be security professionals.

CCL Protect removes that friction. It focuses on the risks that matter most to SMEs, such as external exposure, human risk, and compromised credentials, and addresses them in a connected, consistent way.

The bonus is that when protection is integrated, repeated, and clearly explained, value improves naturally. Compared with spending £11,600+ per year on disconnected point services, CCL Protect delivers stronger, more cohesive protection from £7,800, with predictable costs and no need to rebuild the stack every year. It works out of the box – and keeps working as your business grows.