Will the managed services profession succeed or fail in 2020? The answer is MSPs that can best adapt to the changes in 2020 and flexible with the client in several vital ways will survive the pandemic; they will prosper and be in an excellent position to lead the way in 2021.
The professional history of managed services has seen many ups and downs and adjustments. Y2K, the dot-com bust, September 11, and the 2008-2009 economic crisis all presented unique periods of challenge and, ultimately, the opportunity for MSPs. Today is no different.
Managed Service Providers in 2020 are facing exceptional challenges globally, but they are opportunities as well with MSPs if they are willing to adapt and act upon them.
Below are the three general areas where MSP can maximize their ability to remain valuable and become an influential partner for their clients.
Look for sustainable clients
Business sectors like Travel, hospitality, restaurants, and retail are now facing a major setback, but many business sectors, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and e-commerce are doing quite well during this pandemic situation.
MSPs need to adjust their client base in a way to include more sustainable customers. In this context, sustainable customers are those organizations that the pandemic has not affected significantly, with their business operations continuing despite the widespread quarantine orders.
Many industries out there still need outsourced IT management to manage the demands generated by this situation. Industries such as healthcare, transportation, government, banking, finance, insurance, legal, and pharmaceutical all have significant IT management and security needs. So, a good MSP practice is to start looking at your existing client mixture to develop a plan accordingly.
Risk-based pricing plan
MSPs take on risk in a variety of ways, particularly based on the risk of the client project undertaken.
Clients, particularly small organizations without stable IT networks or effective cyber-hygiene practices need to increase their overall security and data privacy practices. This is a good opportunity for MSPs. But many of these smaller organizations often practice poor cyber-hygiene and do not implement effective IT management policies, so there can be significant risks associated with managing these environments
But the revenue MSPs generate from these types of clients may not be worth the risk associated. So MSPs must adjust their pricing based on the risk involved.
Demonstrate compliance
From GDPR, CCPA, cybersecurity maturity model certification (CMMC), data breach notification laws, NIST, ISO and a variety of other standards and regulatory requirements in place, MSPs are now being asked to demonstrate competency in a number of ways through certifications, examinations and external reviews of their service delivery.
Since MSPs are vital components to many organizations, both in the public and private sector obtaining a SOC 2 report for U.S. banks, mastering NIST for U.S. federal government contracts, or achieving ISO 27001 for GDPR in Europe, MSPs must proactively demonstrate their competency; it is no longer assumed.
Summary –MSPs that adapt the wave will easily ride out 2020
2020 will be a transitional year for many organizations, including MSPs. IT service providers that foresee the challenges and adapt their business models will be in an excellent position to thrive during the worst situation and throughout the rest of the year and into 2021.
