Centreon: MSPs Capitalizing on Increased Demand for IT Monitoring

Businesses are increasingly focused on IT monitoring, providing opportunities for MSPs, according to a new survey by Centreon.

Centreon polled 600 European and North American IT professionals for its State of IT Monitoring survey. It confirms the importance of IT monitoring in corporate governance, despite a perceived lack of visibility over IT performance levels. Centreon provides IT monitoring.

It also highlights growth trends in terms of investment and recruitment in monitoring. Furthermore, it reveals the rapid transformation of infrastructure is prompting new monitoring practices, with a maturity gap between North America and Europe. Cloud, edge and IoT computing are driving the transformation.

Centreon’s Roman Le Merius

Romain Le Merlus is co-founder and CEO Centreon North America.

“What we found in our research confirms industry trends: that the pace of change in the industry is accelerating and the IT estate is becoming increasingly complex,” he said. “It is a critical requirement of IT operations to support an always-on business and more MSPs are stepping up to fill the expertise gap, allowing their customers to focus on their business.”

Because of COVID-19, many organizations have or will increase usage of MSPs. The global pandemic is impacting a variety of business areas. And many organizations surveyed are committing to outsourcing.

Survey Findings

Among the findings:

• Eighty-nine percent of respondents say IT monitoring is a high or top priority for their company. It’s more likely to be a top priority in North America than in Europe.
• Companies are recruiting more in IT monitoring than cybersecurity and networks. Organizations in North America may be more immediately aware of the need for IT monitoring positions than those in Europe.
• Only 27% of respondents rate the visibility over performance levels provided by their monitoring tools as excellent.
• Ninety percent of respondents believe it’s necessary for their IT team to provide business-oriented KPIs. That confirms the importance of monitoring in managing digital business performance and in the digital workplace era.

North America, Europe Differences

The findings also show a significant difference between the two sides of the Atlantic. When asked what technologies/trends will impact their IT monitoring practices over the next three years, North America respondents identified, in order, IoT, edge computing and big data. Respondents in Europe indicated big data, IoT and AI/ML.

Furthermore, the survey highlights a general trend towards increasing the share of cloud, edge and IoT over the next three years. Europe lags behind in implementing cloud compared to North America. Europeans expect a higher increase in the share of the cloud in their infrastructures over the next three years.

“As a major player in this market, we are not surprised by the results of this survey, which highlights the growing importance of IT monitoring,” Le Merlus said. “Trends in our business are like a wave that often moves from west to east, starting in the U.S. and ending in Asia. We are also aware of our role and responsibilities in supporting IT departments on the hot topics highlighted in the study, such as holistic visibility from the cloud to edge and the necessary alignment with business management.”