1.0 - Introduction
The client report is a great way to summarise your clients overall cybersecurity posture into a simple, easy to read report.
With the client report, you can easily show clients and prospects:
where they are performing well
where they need to improve
where there is missing details in your understanding of their security risks
an overview of their IT assets
security issues with their users and devices
actions to be performed - by you and by them
your recommended security package
your recommended alternative security package
Before diving deeper into each of these, lets first explore how to customise the report.
2.0 - Use Cases for the Client Report
The Client Report has several high-value use cases, including:
with prospects to summarise your findings and how you can help them improve
with existing clients to summarise where their IT budget is being spent, their current security posture and your recommendations to improve
with existing clients to demonstrate what areas of their security you can assist with, and which areas they need to take responsibility for.
with existing clients to highlight specific users and devices that have active or upcoming issues that affect their organisations security posture.
Many MSPs prefer to send a copy of the client report in advance of a meeting, and to use the printed report in meetings rather than using HighGround 'live' in a meeting, limiting distraction and the possibility of not being able to login and use the product in a meeting.
However you decide to use the client report, you have a lot of control over what you show, as detailed below in 3.0 - Customising the client report.
3.0 - Customising the Client Report
Every business is unique, and so are its reporting needs. That’s why our platform gives you complete flexibility to customize your client reports, ensuring they highlight the most relevant insights in a clear, digestible format. Whether you want to adjust the layout, choose specific data points or tailor the level of detail, we’ve got you covered. With just a few clicks, you can craft reports that speak directly to your clients’ priorities, making it easier than ever to present valuable insights in a way that resonates. Let’s explore the powerful customization options at your fingertips!
3.1 - Cover Note
A great client report isn’t just about data—it’s about telling a story. With our cover note feature, you can add a personalized message to provide context, highlight key takeaways, and set the stage for your clients. Whether you want to summarize the report’s insights, acknowledge recent successes, or outline next steps, this is your opportunity to add a human touch and make your reports more engaging. A well-crafted cover note ensures your clients not only receive the data but understand its impact—helping you strengthen relationships and build trust with every report you send.
Tip: You can now use AI to help you write your cover notes. To learn more read our Using AI in HighGround article.
3.2 - Section Reordering
You can easily customize the layout of your client report by reordering sections with a simple drag-and-drop feature. This allows you to arrange the most important insights at the top, ensuring key data points are highlighted for your clients.
Simply click and hold a section, then drag it to your desired position within the report. This flexibility helps create a clear, structured, and easy-to-read summary tailored to your client or prospects needs.
3.3 - Hiding Sections
To keep your client report clean and focused, you can hide sections and subsections using the toggle feature. This allows you to collapse any part of the report that isn’t immediately relevant, making it easier for clients to navigate and absorb key insights.
Simply click the toggle button next to a section or subsection to hide or reveal its content as needed. This ensures a streamlined, clutter-free report while still keeping all essential data accessible.
4.0 - What you can include in Client Reports
Client reports provide a clear and concise overview of key data points, helping business owners make informed decisions without needing technical expertise. You can include a variety of insights, such as
technology spend data to track IT investments
an assessment of the client's security capabilities to identify potential risks
an inventory of assets for better asset management
proposed security packages to improve their security posture
By customizing the report with relevant information, you can deliver valuable insights that align with your client’s needs and priorities.
4.1 - Current Cyber Security posture
To make security understandable to business leaders, HighGround presents security posture using the following visual KPIs:
Cyber Score - their overall security posture ranging from 0 to 100
Cyber Resilience - their ability to govern their cybersecurity risks, respond to threats, recover from incidents and learn from cyber-attacks for continual improvement.
Alignment to NIST CSF 2.0 - a visual representation of their security posture against 5 of the 6 Functions of the NIST Cybersecurity 2.0. The further from the centre to the outer point of the chart, the more mature they are in that Function of NIST CSF.
4.2 - Technology Spend
Tracking technology spend is essential for understanding IT investments and optimizing budget allocation. Client reports show a break down of costs related to all areas of technology including IT Support, Cyber, Connectivity, Cloud, Microsoft 365, Hardware, Software and more.
This provides a clear view of where money is being spent gives that all-important context about where the current IT budget is going when presenting cost increases, and aids in identifying where money could be saved by being more efficient with the current budget.
Tip: You can customise the date range of the technology spend.
4.3 - Technology Subscriptions
Client reports can provide a detailed overview of active software and service subscriptions. This helps to show clients what other technology providers they are spending money with, how much they are spending and how much of the overall budget this is taking up.
With this information in hand, you can lean into budget conversations with confidence, pinpointing where you can save money (including by switching this to your MSP), making their budget stretch further and helping them find the budget for better cybersecurity.
4.4 - Security Capabilities
Assessing a client’s security capabilities helps identify strengths and vulnerabilities in their current cybersecurity posture.
By including an overview of their current security posture in client reports, clients can see where they are performing well, where they have weak spots they need to improve, and what is still not yet known - helping you get more facetime with clients to build this out and understand their risks more fully.
4.5 - Assets
Including a summary of a client’s digital assets provides a clear understanding of how well their IT inventory is understood.
The Assets section highlights some key points:
Device issues: highlight devices that are end-of-life, out of warranty, are over a certain age (5yrs by default) or are experiencing performance issues (coming soon)
User issues: highlight users who are at risk through risky sign-ins or disabled Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
By discussing your clients understanding of their digital assets, including the importance of adequately mapping and managing them, this helps clients understand why these have a negative impact on their security posture and demonstrates the value in mitigating these issues.
4.6 - Security Actions
When working with clients in HighGround, you can quickly create tasks to ensure actions don't get missed. As you create tasks, you can assign the owner of the task - more notably whether this is a task for them to complete, or something you will need to do for them.
You can include these tasks (i.e. security actions) in the client report, which clearly shows which actions are on them, and which are on you.
By listing these actions in the client report, you will build confidence that you have the next steps in hand and everyone is clear on what they need to do, building confidence with clients.
4.7 - Recommended Security Packages
Rarely will a clients security posture be in tip-top, perfect condition. In the majority of cases, you will be presenting some improvements or changes to their current security capabilities which you can address through one of your managed security packages.
You can include your recommended security package and an 'alternative' security package in your clients reports, making it clear for clients what the route forward is and how much it will cost. These packages will be documented in the client report in extensive detail, including:
overview of total price, billing period and billing model
visual representation of their current security posture vs the improved security posture the security package will provide
breakdown of the price, including quantities and unit types
services included in the security package
features included in the security package
technologies and practices included in the security package
tools used in the security package
As you can see, this includes the majority of what a client could ever need to know about your recommended security package and how this will improve their security posture.
5.0 - Exporting Client report
Once a client report is complete, you can print it to PDF by clicking 'export' or 'print'.
Note: as a trade-off for dynamic building of security packages, we are currently using your browsers print functionality for exporting security packages. You will need to export the package to PDF and attach it to an email to send it to your clients or prospects.