I’ve always been passionate about motivating business leaders to prioritize business planning, but this year, I’m a bit more vocal about the topic than usual (if you can believe it).
So many things in our landscape are changing at once: the pandemic, the economy, evolving work and technology habits, security risks, massive private equity investments in the IT channel, and the shift in SMB spending.
In an industry that has changed very slowly for more than a decade, what I’ve outlined is a big shift.
Your vendors and competitors are changing
MSPs are shouldering more customer risks, and because of this are often being denied cyber insurance. We see that compliance requirements are building. Dealing with these issues will involve setting different priorities. And that means more discipline around the business planning process.
You may have been able to make a nice living over the past 10 years as an MSP without being what I would call a ‘professional businessperson’, but I believe that that time is coming to an end (if it hasn’t already).
While understanding the changing landscape is one thing, developing and executing a plan to lower your risk and capitalize on new opportunities is something different. MSPs with command and a strong business planning process in place will thrive in the new world. Others who take the same approach in the future, as they have in the past, will face major challenges over the next few years.
I don’t want my message to be one of fear and I’m not trying to scare you into action. In fact, I believe we’re entering the best time to be an MSP if you’re able to adapt to the changes that are happening in our industry! In fact, more MRR will be sold at a higher price next year than ever before. The revenue just won’t be spread evenly across the industry.
I simply want you to see how the landscape is changing so that you can make the best decisions on how to set the right priorities for your MSP business.
Photo: Daniel Jenny / Shutterstock
