If you’re looking to invest in Managed Detection and Response (MDR), chances are you’d like to finally gain the peace of mind that comes with knowing that someone is watching your network 24/7 and ready to act if anything suspicious happens. But for too many organisations, the reality doesn’t match the promise. Hours can pass before threats are addressed, reporting is inconsistent, and IT teams end up wondering whether they’re truly getting the protection they’re paying for.
Having worked closely with dozens of UK SMBs navigating MDR partnerships, we’ve seen the same frustrations surface again and again. MDR should reduce risk and workload, yet when delivered poorly, it creates more confusion than clarity.
In this article, I’ll unpack the most common MDR complaints, why they happen, and what “good” really looks like so you can partner with a vendor with confidence.
The biggest frustration I hear from SMBs is that they don’t know what’s going on. They’ve outsourced detection and response, but can’t see what threats were found, how they were handled, or whether action was even taken. All too often, an IT lead has told us, “We pay for MDR, but I couldn’t tell you what we’re actually getting.” When that happens, it’s not just a technical issue; it’s a communication failure that erodes trust in their service provider.
Unfortunately, many MDR vendors operate reactively: they communicate when something goes wrong, but remain silent when things are stable. That lack of transparency means IT leaders have little data to share with management, which makes it that much harder to justify the investment.
Check out this article for some tips on how you can justify your cyber spend to leadership.
When it comes to cyber incidents, every minute matters. Every extra minute between detection and containment gives an attacker time to pivot, expand, and do some real damage. The difference between a minor breach and a major outage often comes down to how fast your provider acts.
This is where things can get tricky. Some MDR vendors define “response” as acknowledging an alert, not taking action. So while you might receive confirmation within four hours, the actual containment could take much longer. In today’s threat landscape, that’s too slow and simply unacceptable.
More MDR vendors are leveraging the power of automation, which significantly shortens response times. The best MDR platforms use automation to neutralise common threats quickly, while giving analysts the time to focus on the more complex, high-risk scenarios.
As Ryan Kinsella said in this article, an MDR's main focus is to actively hunt for threats, monitor your attack surface, and respond fast if a bad actor does get in. So in essence, it should make your life easier. But too often, it does the opposite. We see businesses juggling multiple portals, duplicate alerts, and conflicting reports across their stack. Instead of a single pane of glass, they get three different versions of the same incident.
Providers claim to be “technology agnostic,” but that can mean shallow integrations. Without deep connections into Microsoft 365, endpoint protection, and identity tools, alerts aren’t correlated properly, and duplication runs wild.
One Babble customer saw a 40% reduction in alert volume after switching to an MDR with built-in Microsoft Defender integration. By merging the data streams, we gave their IT lead a clear, prioritised view instead of hundreds of redundant alerts.
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Low-cost MDR options look appealing, but they often rely on manual processes, offshore analysts, and overburdened teams working across time zones. These setups might look fine on paper, but the cracks show fast: delayed responses, missed context, and unclear escalation paths. Meanwhile, top-tier or “hero” vendors invest in automation, 24/7 staffed Security Operations Centres (SOCs), and local expertise.
Every MDR provider makes the same claims, promising 24/7 protection, instant response, and AI-driven insight. But the reality is that some “round-the-clock” SOCs simply forward alerts to your inbox outside business hours. In such a crowded market, vendors overpromise to win deals. SMBs, who often lack the technical depth or expertise to challenge those claims, accept the buzzwords at face value. This, coupled with the cheap sticker price, ultimately results in a mismatch between expectation and delivery.
If a vendor can’t answer these confidently, you already know the likely outcome.
Every one of the common MDR problems — poor visibility, slow responses, fragmented systems — can be fixed. Transparency can be built into your reporting, response times can be measured and improved, and integrations can be tightened to deliver the clarity you should have had from the start. When MDR works as it should, it doesn’t just protect your network — it empowers your team, shortens incident timelines, and gets you leadership buy-in.
But if your provider isn’t delivering that, the cost isn’t just financial. Choosing the wrong MDR partner increases your exposure. Every missed alert, delayed containment, and duplicated process erodes trust and wastes time. Your MDR isn’t just a security function: you need to be able to trust your vendor. You’re relying on another team to act when you can’t, to be your first line of defence when things go wrong. That trust must be earned and continually demonstrated, not assumed.
Over the years, I’ve seen firsthand how the right MDR partnership transforms that trust into tangible results. At Babble, our mission is to make enterprise-level security simple, practical, and measurable for growing UK businesses — so your IT team can focus on what matters, with the confidence that someone has their back.
If you’re unsure how your current MDR stacks up, or you want reassurance that your defences are working as they should, now’s the time to take action. Book a free Cyber Risk Assessment with Babble. We’ll benchmark your current setup against proven best practice, highlight the gaps, and build a clear, actionable roadmap to strengthen your protection and restore confidence where it belongs — with you and your team.