The MSP Generation Divide Time changes everything. That certainly seems like an appropriate saying when examining the managed services profession. MSPs seem to be getting younger and younger every year. Or maybe we are just getting older. The point is, the generational divide amongst MSP professionals is increasing. We have older and younger members of our profession, and a lot of knowledge must be transferred between these generations. New MSP generation doesn't have preconceived notions of man...
Jul 18, 2023•35 min
What do PE Firms Want from MSPs? For the last several years MSPs have been courted by private equity firms desperate to enter the managed services space. At the risk of being obvious, what do private equity (PE) firms want from their MSP investments? It's an important question and knowing the answer can help you successfully navigate the process of working with a PE. PE vs other MSP buyers Types of investment Hold times Managed Service Sales is Easier Than you Think Stop overthinking sales. Afte...
Jul 11, 2023•50 min
Are Accounting Firms Squeezing MSPs? Misunderstanding MSPs in the larger IT channel discussion Why are accounting firms getting into managed services? How does the CPA community impact MSPs moving forward? Could the Master Cyber Provider Model Backfire? Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Truer words were never spoken, particularly in the IT channel. Way back when managed services was just getting started, the master MSP model emerged. There are important lessons to be learned from...
Jun 27, 2023•42 min
Internal IT vs MSP Can an MSP do everything an internal IT department can? That is the quintessential question the world has been asking for 30 years. Just because an organization has an internal IT department does not guarantee that it will be efficient. In fact, all IT departments face the same choices as IT service providers: you can be proactive or reactive. Struggles of internal IT Natural barriers of scalability with internal IT Reactive vs proactive internal IT MSP Market Still Growing Ac...
Jun 20, 2023•39 min
N-able CEO Advises MSPs on Upcoming Challenges N-able held its partner conference in Prague recently and their CEO had some very interesting comments regarding the economy, compliance, security, and other "challenges" facing MSPs. Headwinds for the rest of the economy are tailwinds for MSPs, if they position themselves correctly Major "business" shift for MSPs This is a very simple adjustment for MSPs, if you don't look at it as a technical change MDR vs MSP Do you think managed detection and re...
Jun 09, 2023•46 min
Can MSPs "Guarantee" Compliance? It's no secret that many MSPs are helping clients deal with compliance issues. Whether this is gathering evidence for a client audit, or simply offering traditional managed services to demonstrate compliance for a given framework. However, when it comes to guarantees, compliance may not be the area where you make any guarantees. Here's why. Compliance within the MSPs' control Customer interference Making guarantees in the first place Benefits of Managed IT Servic...
May 22, 2023•36 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low Don't Rely (too much) on Cyber Insurance Barracuda surveyed 400 enterprise IT and security professionals globally, ranging from IT managers to CISOs, to discover the biggest cybersecurity challenges businesses face in 2023. • Are organizations placing too much emphasis on cyber insurance? • What should MSPs do about this? • Are cyber insurance policies being used to target ransomware victims? MSP Economics Update for Q2 We just had the latest MSPAlliance Inspire meeting...
May 15, 2023•34 min•Ep. 252
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low AI Ethics in Managed Services You heard correctly. Ethics in artificial intelligence. This is going to be a big issue moving forward and MSPs had better familiarize themselves with what is happening because before too long, MSPs will be dealing directly with AI devices and scenarios. Compliance reporting All the discussion around compliance lately is missing one crucial element: reporting. Without reporting, no compliance exercise you undertake will be of use to anyone ...
May 06, 2023•37 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low Cyber Consultants at it Again We have been coming across a unique brand of marketing and website design company lately; yes, you guessed it, they also do cybersecurity. It seems difficult not to come across cyber security "experts" these days, even if that claim may be dubious. Marketing gets into cybersecurity Cyber consultants need understanding of MSPs First do no harm! Managing MSP remote workers (ticket reviews) Since the pandemic remote work has exploded. The same...
Apr 25, 2023•34 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low We have officially wrapped up Q1 2023 and its time to evaluate how the managed services profession did and what the outlook is like. Q1 analysis MSP outlook Tech stock performance S&P 500 doing well because of IT stocks https://stocks.apple.com/A4qzi73EUTAqsG5chNLDjkw Cyber Consultants Continued We have been discussing (for years) the ongoing evolution and emergence of consultants in the cybersecurity field and the impact they are having on managed service providers...
Apr 18, 2023•34 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low North Dakota Announces Mandatory Cybersecurity Education North Dakota just announced a new educational mandate for grade school students to learn more about cybersecurity. Such a move is not only a smart one, but it is going to have a positive impact on future generations of cybersecurity professionals. Cyber skills gap acknowledged Good example of government leadership and action Good news for MSPs (and other employers) in the near future https://www-kxnet-com.cdn.ampp...
Apr 04, 2023•31 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low What is continuous compliance? Sound like a headache? It isn’t. Continuous compliance is where the managed services profession is headed and MSPs had better start preparing now. Continuous compliance defined Why continuous compliance is the future Guidance for transitioning from standard to continuous Recent news stories would have you believe that the recent bank failures are really caused by underlying fractures within the tech sector. Let’s examine an alternative the...
Mar 27, 2023•33 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low First, let's discuss Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). You may be wondering what does SVB have to do with managed services. Good question. Nothing directly ties SVB to managed services, other than there are a number of MSPAlliance members who bank there and may be impacted by recent events. Will SVB have any long or short term effects on the managed services profession? Is the SVB collapse an indicator of technology health? Second, some advice for MSP startups. Much of the dis...
Mar 23, 2023•40 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Medium MSP Zone examines the idea of a cyber tax, what that would look like, and whether a cyber tax would be a good thing for MSPs Highlights: Cyber tax credits Codes of conduct Government oversight? Cyber Verify has been launched. What is Cyber Verify? How can it help MSPs at both ends of the MSP maturity spectrum? The Art of Managed Services 2nd Edition is now available for purchase. What went into the 2nd edition? What has changed since the first edition was published i...
Mar 10, 2023•28 min
Weaver Outrage Meter: Low) In the US, we just had our national state of the union address, so we thought it would be fun (and interesting) to do our own state of the union address on how the managed services profession is doing in 2023. Drawing from global IT spending data and MSPAlliance member input, we have put together some of the more noteworthy areas of interest to MSPs in 2023, both areas of opportunity and issues of concern. Enjoy Highlights: IT Spending for 2023 Compliance challenges an...
Feb 13, 2023•30 min
Weaver Outrage Meter (Low) There are many reasons why you would want to work with a provider of managed services. During a recession (or the threat of a recession), IT and business needs tend to become a bit more clear and in focus as you come to reality about what it is you really need versus what you don't. The benefits of managed services really only apply to true MSP organizations. We are not talking about break/fix and reactive IT companies as they do not create the same types of economic a...
Feb 01, 2023•16 min
Weaver Outrage Meter (Low) Many MSPs think of compliance as a "once a year" activity. Much like doing your taxes, compliance is a doing it once and then forget it event that gets revisited next year. This is dangerous thinking and should be part of every MSP's new year's resolution for 2023. Compliance doesn't have to be a dirty word. In fact, compliance should have nothing to do with tax preparation or any other dreaded activity you have to do on an ongoing basis. Instead, compliance ought to b...
Jan 24, 2023•35 min
Weaver Outrage Meter (Medium) I recently read a blog written by a government about how to properly use MSPs in a cloud environment. Now. I am not sure what background this author has but I’m assuming a good number of people read and approved of the article since it was published (for the public to read) on a government website. I do not like attacking people directly when they have no ability to respond to the allegation but in this case, I believe the idea raised is so contentious that it must ...
Jan 17, 2023•36 min
Weaver Outrage Meter (Medium) I thought you'd never see the day when you hear me say the words, maybe roll ups work in the MSP profession. Before you get too excited, there are still some "right" ways and "wrong" ways to go about doing M&A and that is part of what we will discuss today. But, part of my analysis on MSP acquisitions over the last few years does involve what some of you out there would classify as roll up acquisition strategies. Do they work? Are they really roll ups? Let's dig...
Jan 10, 2023•29 min
If cyber is uninsurable, then MSPs just got a lot more valuable. Here's the conundrum. If MSPs represent aggregate risk to insurers yet are invaluable in the fight against cyber threats, and if cyber is becoming more uninsurable, then MSPs become even more critical in the cyber risk equation. Sound complicated? I'll explain. Most of the discussion around cyber risk insurance today can be boiled down to lack of visibility and understanding about the MSP market and IT threats in general. I don't w...
Jan 05, 2023•26 min
Weaver Outrage Meter (Low) 2022 began very differently than it ended. The pandemic, global supply chain, cyber-attacks, cyber risk, the economy, MSP talent, and many other areas saw change (good and bad) during the year. This summary of the year 2022 in managed services looks at a variety of areas all related to the global managed services profession and attempts to extract some lessons learned so we can apply them to 2023. MSP Zone Guest: Rob Scott Highlights: Cyber Risk - legal, technical, bus...
Jan 03, 2023•32 min
It has been a while since we discussed the topic of MSP talent shortages, specific to security (i.e., cybersecurity). A lot has happened since earlier in the year and I wanted to provide you all with an update on where we stand, how the industry is doing, and where we are seeing the most results. Now, the first warning is do not get upset by what you hear. I am going to talk in generalities about what we are seeing across a very large profession. If something I say is troubling to you, just know...
Dec 15, 2022•28 min
Here is some friendly advice for policy makers and legislators moving on the issue of MSP regulation (of any kind) next year, 2023. Since 2020, we have seen a large amount of activity in the cyber regulation area, including specific regulations calling out managed service providers (MSP). Highlights: Direction of MSP Regulation in 2023 Flaws in MSP regulation requiring a fix What MSPs Need from MSP Regulation
Dec 12, 2022•34 min
With all the pressure and hype around growth-oriented MSP platforms these days, I thought it might be helpful to talk about one characteristic of the small MSP which is actually very important. Now, this does not mean larger MSP organizations do not possess this characteristic. It does mean, however, that smaller MSPs are more likely to find this type of process much easier to perform. What am I talking about? Analyzing, identifying, digesting, and remediating MSP risk. While risk assessing is t...
Dec 01, 2022•34 min
For many MSP owners and operators sales is a foreign concept. Sales is acknowledged as a necessary business component for all MSPs, but very few MSPs have mastered the art form of sales. Today we attempt to breakdown the stereotypes of sales in the managed services profession. We examine everything from process, metrics, business goals, and the important integration of sales into the managed services engine. If you have ever struggled with sales in a managed services environment, this episode is...
Nov 28, 2022•36 min
Last week was the MSPAlliance Inspire "peer" group meeting in Las Vegas. I say "peer group" in quotes because this group sees themselves as the anti-peer group. Born out of the frustration of many peer group veterans, they created the MSPAlliance Inspire to bring networking and leadership in managed services to a new level. Here are some of the things they discussed and what I learned from observing these MSPs. Highlights: MSPs need a place to vent Staffing remains an issue, but MSPs do have sol...
Nov 17, 2022•29 min
I recently spoke with an insurance executive and we had a very interesting conversation about risk and perceptions of risk related to cyber security and managed services. This conversation was eye-opening for a number of reasons, but mostly because it exposed me to a viewpoint I had not fully considered before. This conversation is important because it represents what I believe is the larger debate happening right now between MSPs on one hand and public policy makers on the other. Is risk truly ...
Nov 15, 2022•29 min
Ransomware impacts many industries throughout the world, but today we focus on the manufacturing sector. Is the manufacturing industry facing an increase in cyber-attacks? If so, how are they responding to these attacks and what changes are they making to become more resilient to such attacks? John Shier, senior security advisor with Sophos, enters the MSP Zone to discuss his analysis of a recent Sophos ransomware study. Highlights 52% of manufacturing organizations were hit with ransomware in 2...
Nov 07, 2022•35 min
Weaver Outrage Meter (Low) Sponsored by: Dell Expert Network Any organization can experience growth. Some may have to buy it, such as through M&A transactions. Others, may be lucky enough to experience growth organically. Maybe they have a really good product, perhaps they just have an awesome sales and marketing team, or perhaps they are just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. The same is true for MSPs. MSPs, however, have to consider something when going through a growth...
Nov 04, 2022•32 min
There are many organizations looking to get a better handle on their IT management, including their security. For the majority of these organizations, it is impossible to do this entirely on their own. As such, these entities often seek out MSPs to resolve a variety of business, technical, and security objectives. Before engaging an MSP, however, there are some things you ought to know about your MSP. Here is our list of questions you ought to ask your MSP prior to engaging their services. Highl...
Nov 01, 2022•34 min
