It was fourteen years ago when I first interviewed Peter Sandiford, the founder and CEO of Level Platforms, one of the first companies that championed remote monitoring and management. Managed services technologies were still in the early adoption stage and, as a fairly new editor at Business Solutions magazine, my knowledge of the topic was quite limited. Our two-hour discussion was quite enlightening. Sandiford laid out the business case for remote management from both the customer and the provider side, with a thorough overview of the various technologies available at that time, as well as those expected to come in the next couple years. His passion, combined with the positive channel repercussions of this revolutionary new business model he outlined, inspired me to spend much of the last 15 years focused closely on the managed services space.
That time with Sandiford was the first of many discussions with vendors, MSPs, industry experts and even end users. The industry has transformed significantly since that time, moving from basic remote monitoring and management applications to the latest cloud and mobility solution integrations. With so many technological advances and increasing competition, the categories are even beginning to blur. For example, PSA (Professional Services Automation) platforms and RMM tools have begun to converge into more all-in-one offerings. That’s great for those who want to minimize their vendor relationships or worry less about integrations and compatibility, but offers challenges to MSPs with specific client needs or who simply prefer to build their own suite of tools.
A lot has happened to the managed services community over the past 14-15 years. What was once a handful of very early adopters has blossomed into a thriving community of MSPs who are supported by a multitude of vendors, distributors and other professionals. Of course, they even a collaborative industry peer group dedicated to addressing their current and future business (and professional) needs: The CompTIA Managed Services Community.
Yes, the industry has come a long way, but where will we find ourselves in another ten years? What will the MSP of 2026 look like and, perhaps more importantly, what will their customers need?
The Future Has Already Begun
Research suggests the changes that have taken place over the past decade are nothing compared with what’s ahead for the channel. The innovation cycle gets faster each year, with a host of new technologies trying to keep pace with the ever-increasing demands of business customers. Consumer IT has invaded the workplace, from mobile apps and devices to online shopping and social media. A a host of new connected devices (think IoT) will need to be properly connected, protected and supported. Each is a potential point of vulnerability, so effective security measures have to be implemented and monitored.
That’s not the future, that’s today. The complexities and demands on your clients’ infrastructure will likely grow exponentially in the next decade. That means your team has to continually hone its skill sets and its tool set to keep pace with the innovations. As clients adopt new technologies or identify additional business system needs, providers need to look for ways to automate and link them into their managed services infrastructure and support programs. MSPs are already integrating these systems into their offerings, including:
- Cloud services
- Managed print services
- Business Continuity (including backup and data recovery solutions)
- Managed security services
- Email management
- Mobile devices and solutions
But the future isn’t just about the technology. As the recently released CompTIA IT Industry Outlook 2016 research points out, the future is all about the end user experience. MSPs have to start offering end-to-end support for many business clients. From process and system assessments to training and policy development, your customers need the support of a trusted advisor to ensure their employees have the tools and skills they need to be effective (and happy). That’s how they’ll get more from their technology and personnel investments.
The MSP of the future will be a key business advisor. Your customers mostly operate within a range of things they know, and IT is rarely one of them. They may be oblivious to next generation technologies or know little about security and compliance measures. When your company meets or exceeds customer expectations, it becomes easier to ask more strategic questions. Building that high-level trust with your business clients isn’t easy, but it is becoming a crucial objective for MSPs who want to develop long-term relationships and additional “wallet share.”
The managed services professionals will sound much different in the future, too. IT will become a smaller part of the dialect, replaced increasingly by more business and end user friendly terminology. The technology won’t be going away, in fact, your clients’ dependence on solutions and the underlying infrastructure will likely grow significantly over the next ten years. The value they place on your business process expertise and planning skills, however, will increase exponentially more. What do you think your MSP practice will look like in 2026? It’s really not that far away…
Brian Sherman is Chief Content Officer at GetChanneled, a channel business development and marketing firm. He served previously as chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and senior director of industry alliances with Autotask. Contact Brian at Bsherman@getchanneled.com
