CompTIA Study Reveals What SMBs Want from MSPs
CompTIA‘s new “Enabling SMBs with Technology” study revealed many small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) want innovative technology partners, and a lack of innovative technology solutions is one of the primary reasons why some of these companies choose to switch IT firms.
CompTIA reported that more than 70 percent of SMBs said they have used an outside IT firm at least occasionally over the past 12 months. Also, 46 percent of SMBs noted that they look to outside IT firms when they need greater expertise and new options, which could create new opportunities for innovative managed service providers (MSPs).
“For an MSP to be innovative, it must focus on business results at a broad scale and proactively determine the best technology solution,” Seth Robinson, CompTIA’s senior director of technology analysis, told MSPmentor.
Other CompTIA findings included:
- Two-thirds of SMBs said they spend less than $100,000 annually on technology, and 29 percent spend $10,000 or less.
- Two-thirds of respondents said they plan to increase their technology budgets, and nearly half noted that they would be willing to increase their budgets if presented with an innovative solution that could enable new business processes.
- SMBs are generally satisfied with their technology solution providers, but they do not always view their provider as a “trusted advisor.”
Robinson added that many SMBs could benefit from managed services, but finances could limit their managed services adoption.
However, CompTIA said service providers could differentiate their offerings, and ultimately, become trusted advisors to SMBs via:
- Analytics – Offering relevant data to SMBs could help these businesses make better decisions.
- Cloud computing – Providing cloud services could allow MSPs to support a multi-cloud architecture “that businesses of all sizes are pursuing.”
- Web design – Leveraging mobile and online tools could help service providers promote their products and services to new audiences.
CompTIA’s “Enabling SMBs with Technology” study is based on an online survey of 500 SMB executives and professionals conducted in the United States last December.
Full study results are available for download here.
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