Uncontrolled AI adoption is creating a new revenue opportunity for security partners, says Securonix country director Dipesh Kaura

Organisations are adopting AI tools and agents without adequate governance, creating demand for monitoring, risk assessment and response services from MSSPs and security integrators, he added.

AI adoption is moving faster than the governance structures enterprises have built around it, creating a new security services opportunity for Indian partners around AI monitoring, risk assessment, governance and eventually response.

“Organisations are adopting AI tools and agents without fully understanding how they are being used, what data is being exposed and how consumption is being managed,” Securonix country director, India & SAARC, Dipesh Kaura told CRN India.

For MSSPs and security service providers, that gap is opening a new category of services beyond conventional cybersecurity.

“AI governance, AI monitoring, AI risk assessment and after a point in time, AI response — these will be the new line of business, undoubtedly,” Kaura said.

The opportunity is emerging as enterprises move from experimentation to broader AI adoption, often without establishing the controls needed to govern that usage.

Kaura said the current phase of AI adoption is “very chaotic” and, in many organisations, unplanned. Employees are adopting AI tools without waiting for formal organisational frameworks to catch up.

He said organisations often recognise the consequences only after they encounter unexpected costs, penalties or other risks associated with how AI tools are being used.

“People are just hopping onto tools and they have not understood till the time they have faced huge invoices or penalties coming in,” Kaura said.

According to him, the problem has two dimensions. The first is a lack of governance around which AI tools employees can use and how those tools should be deployed. The second is a lack of understanding among users about the data implications of those tools.

“There is no governance. Second, there is no literacy of using these tools within the organisation,” Kaura said.

That creates an operational gap that partners can potentially address.

AI adoption creates a new governance layer for partners

The expansion of AI usage is creating a new layer of security and governance requirements inside organisations. Employees may use multiple AI tools, agents and models for different tasks, while enterprises may have limited visibility into what information is being shared with those systems or how consumption is taking place.

Kaura said organisations are often adopting these tools without being fully cognisant of the impact of the data being collected by AI agents.

“Everybody is happily using everything which is coming to them without being cognizant about the impact of the data which is getting collected by those AI agents,” he said.

For partners, that creates an opportunity to move into areas such as AI usage monitoring, risk assessment, governance frameworks and ongoing response.

The opportunity is also likely to become more operational over time. Rather than simply helping customers establish an AI policy, partners could be required to continuously monitor AI usage, identify risks and respond when policies or controls are breached.

Kaura sees this following a trajectory similar to the evolution of cybersecurity itself.

He has spent around 15 years in cybersecurity and said organisations did not always treat issues such as phishing, ransomware and security awareness as mainstream operational priorities.

Earlier, he said, many users assumed they were unlikely to become targets because larger organisations appeared to be more attractive to attackers.

That mindset has changed as cyber threats have become part of everyday technology usage.

Kaura believes AI security is now entering a similar phase, where widespread adoption is preceding a mature understanding of the associated risks.

“Very soon it will bubble up to become a bigger headache than cybersecurity, also because security threats on AI are still unimaginable,” he said.

For channel partners, the significance is that AI governance does not have to remain a one-time consulting engagement. Monitoring, assessment, policy enforcement and response can potentially create recurring services around the customer’s AI environment.

That could allow MSSPs to extend their existing security operations capabilities into AI environments rather than building an entirely separate services practice.

Securonix is positioning its own capabilities around AI detection, AI response and agentic AI as part of that emerging market. Kaura said the company is already seeing partner activity around these areas.

The broader opportunity, however, is not limited to selling another security product.

For partners, the larger proposition is helping customers understand where AI is being used, what risks it creates, whether the usage complies with organisational policies and how those risks can be monitored continuously.

That creates a shift from conventional security monitoring towards AI-specific governance and operational oversight.

Partner opportunity will expand

The next stage of the opportunity will depend on how quickly enterprises formalise AI adoption.

Today, many organisations are still experimenting with multiple AI tools and agents. As those tools become embedded into business processes, the consequences of unmanaged usage are likely to become more significant.

That is where Kaura expects the partner role to expand.

The evolution will move from basic governance towards monitoring, risk assessment and eventually response as enterprises seek greater control over AI-driven workflows.

For Indian MSSPs, that could create an opportunity to package AI governance alongside existing security services, rather than treating it as a standalone offering.

The same model could apply across system integrators and specialist security partners that already have relationships with enterprise security teams.

Securonix is also keeping the opportunity open to its broader partner ecosystem rather than limiting access to a small group of existing MSSPs.

Kaura said partners that work with Securonix will get access to the new capabilities, while the company expects the partner ecosystem to expand as demand increases.

“The sooner you become a partner, the faster you get the access,” he said.

However, Securonix does not expect every partner or customer engagement to follow the same model.

Kaura pointed to differences between partners such as GRAMAX and Orient Technologies, where customer profiles and security requirements vary significantly.

GRAMAX, for example, works with critical infrastructure environments including airports, ports, shipping and energy, creating a different level of security sensitivity compared with partners focused primarily on mid-market or semi-enterprise customers.

Orient, he said, has a broader system integration business and serves a different customer segment.

While both partners receive attention from Securonix, the level of OEM involvement can vary depending on the sensitivity and complexity of the customer environment.

Critical environments such as large banks, IT and IT services companies, power-sector organisations and defence customers will require greater direct involvement from the vendor.

One VAD to widen partner coverage without diluting OEM support

Smaller partners and customers with lower consumption requirements can receive additional support through the VAD that Securonix is preparing to announce for India.

That model allows Securonix to expand its partner base without applying the same level of direct technical involvement to every customer engagement.

The company is also investing in partner enablement as the technology develops.

Kaura said Securonix has around 450 employees across its Bangalore and Pune centres, where product development, engineering and AI work is being carried out.

The India-based teams are also being used to support partners through enablement programmes and beta deployments.

During these deployments, partner technical teams shadow Securonix personnel while the technology is implemented and tested at customer environments.

That hands-on approach is intended to give partners experience before they independently take the technology into wider engagements.

Kaura expects the partner ecosystem to become fully enabled within three to six months as partners gain practical experience through POCs and customer deployments.

Securonix also plans to remain closely involved during the initial engagements rather than simply handing the technology to partners.

“We will own it. We will drive it with the partners, with the customer, with the VADs, so that the messaging and the use cases have been displayed correctly and the value is clearly visible for the customer to buy and for the partner to sell,” Kaura said.

For the channel, that creates a relatively clear path into the emerging AI security market.

Partners do not necessarily need to build an entirely new security practice from scratch. Existing capabilities in monitoring, assessment, managed security, and incident response can serve as the foundation for AI-specific services as enterprises begin to formalise their use of AI.

The larger shift, according to Kaura, is that AI is creating a new security layer that enterprises will eventually need to operate continuously.