As we once again gear up for our annual MSP Day, I can’t help but cast my mind back to last year’s festivities. Despite the uncertainty and isolation many of us were feeling, 2020 was the year MSP Day went global as we highlighted the MSP landscape in several new regions – including North America, Central Europe, and Australia – and produced our biggest “Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report” yet.
So, ahead of the upcoming MSP Day 2021, let’s take a look at last year’s highlights reel.
Invaluable insights
MSP Day is built to celebrate the MSP landscape and highlight the challenges and opportunities before it. In 2020, that landscape showed end-users that were overwhelmed by security demands; they struggled to recruit the necessary skills and were rightfully concerned over the significant resources needed to maintain a robust perimeter. They were in desperate need of partners they could rely on to offer the skills and resources they were lacking – ideally delivered alongside deep respect and understanding for their concerns.
The opportunities for the MSP community were plentiful, providing they were up for the challenge of giving their customers what they needed to feel seen, heard, and protected. At a glance:
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- A vast majority of MSPs were looking to expand their services portfolio in 2020. A significant 91 percent of partners planned to increase the breadth and depth of their services capacity. Managed services were predicted as the top revenue generator for the vast majority of respondents. A total of 69 percent of respondents picked managed services as the biggest opportunity for increasing sales in 2020.
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- A hybrid approach to services was favoured by the vast majority of partners. 53 percent of respondents expected to generate 51 percent or more of their business through managed services, with approximately 45 percent saying they expected to generate up to 50 percent of business through managed services in 2020.
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- Security services were higher up the agenda for MSPs compared to 2019. Endpoint Security, Email Security and Network Security all made it into the top five services table in 2020. In 2019, email security was the only security service in the top five.
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- Rising security concerns and a lack of in-house skills within end-user customers were driving the need for third-party service providers. A total of 79 percent of partners felt customer security concerns were a good opportunity in 2020, particularly with the rise of remote workers. 72 percent said the lack of in-house security skills at their customers was also creating new revenue possibilities.
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- Nearly all partner respondents agreed that demand for managed security services was increasing. In total, 88 percent of those questioned said that demand for security services was either ‘moderately’ or ‘significantly’ increasing at the time.
Reusable MSP Day resources
Not content with just releasing our annual MSP Business Report, in 2020 we created a range of resources for our community to use. These included:
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- A series of podcasts, hosted by us, spanning various aspects of an MSP business, including sales, security, and best practices for the post-Covid world.
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- An assessment for service providers to measure their progress toward embracing managed services.
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- An additional managed services report helping illustrate the value of managed services to the business of technology, created by CompTIA, the strategic partner of Global MSP Day 2020.
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- CompTIA also offered a membership program for managed service providers to access exclusive resources and insights to benefit their businesses.
These resources are still available – for free – at www.barracudamsp.com/globalmspday2020
A land of opportunity
So what was the outcome of MSP Day 2020? It has since been proven that the appetite for managed services is showing no signs of slowing, even in a global pandemic. Meanwhile, the concerns identified among end-users have only been strengthened by the unyielding advances on cybercriminals taking advantage of the remote workers and weakened perimeters.
MSP Day 2020 proved that security services are in high demand, regardless of the customer’s size. While things are looking vastly more positive for the world compared to this time last year, it’s increasingly evident that working practices have forever changed, and the need to secure remote workers and networks is here for the long run. MSP Day 2020 highlighted a crucial turning point for our industry, the results of which we will no doubt uncover on MSP Day 2021.
What can you look forward to on MSP Day?
On the agenda for this year’s MSP Day we have discussions around understanding today’s MSP industry from IT business growth expert Richard Tubb, an industry leading panel featuring CompTIA, Barracuda MSP and Blackpoint Cyber, as well as the much anticipated results from the 2021 Managed Services Landscape report.
As well as the main agenda, there will also be localised break out rooms with local guests including MSP thought leaders, local sales leaders and MSPs sharing their experiences over the last year (regions include US, DACH, EMEA, ANZ).
If you want to discover the latest industry insight from MSPs globally and be first in line to receive our 2021 Evolving MSP Landscape report highlighting key industry trends and opportunities for growth, make sure you register for MSP Day 2021 today!
Photo: ERainbow / Shutterstock
