Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

We talk a lot about MSP maturity, but I wanted to take the opportunity in this blog to really consider what that maturity actually looks like. For starters, I believe there are three key areas of excellence that currently define maturity in an MSP business: In all these areas, mature MSPs are constantly tweaking the dial and making ongoing investments.

I was recently asked by one of our partners about my thoughts on comanaged IT services. They were having a difficult time finding new managed services leads and were considering moving upstream into the midmarket space to see if it would bring them better success.

Skilled technical people are the key to any MSP’s success and growth. In fact, data from Service Leadership shows the inability to get and keep such talent can be a top business risk for MSPs. It’s not surprising. These individuals are in high demand, and typically have their choice of where to work. The shocking thing is how often an MSP’s own process and technology choices impact their ability to attract and retain needed colleagues.

As MSPs expand their cybersecurity offerings, cyber-intelligence is an area that can help them improve protection for customers, generate additional revenue, and differentiate their services from the competition. However, when we talk to MSPs about cyber-intelligence, we often get the raised eyebrow. This reaction is driven by many factors. One of which is the nebulous meaning of cyber-intelligence—what is it really?

Being in IT can sometimes feel a bit like being a doctor—you’re often called upon to give people the bad news that their beloved computer isn’t going to make it. Other times, people think you’ve performed a miracle just by doing your job and saving their data. Then, there’s the Thanksgiving problem, where any time you’re at a family gathering, you get cornered by a relative wanting to talk about their tech problems, regardless of your actual area of expertise.

If you’re like me, you started your week by reading the Microsoft blog about Nobelium, an advanced-persistent-threat (APT) group that was actively targeting cloud service providers (CSPs) and managed services provider (MSPs) in a recent wave of supply chain attacks. Personally, I wasn’t terribly surprised. We all know by now that MSPs have a bullseye on them for adversaries wishing to target the supply chain. What’s different about this attack is the motive.

The new year is just around the corner, meaning we’ll be ringing in 2022 before we know it. So how did your MSP fair in 2021? Did you achieve the sales and revenue goals you set? Net new customer acquisition continues to be the #1 challenge facing MSPs today. And because most businesses already have an MSP they are using, the struggle is real. So the test becomes, how can I set myself apart?