MSPs: Time to Reinvent

Written by Jim Lampert
March 30, 2020

There's pain and opportunity for MSPs in the complexity costs of new technology.

… filter the continual onslaught of new solutions for those that truly deliver ROI. Large MSPs are regularly experimenting with and vetting products for a broad customer base, which brings efficiencies and faster time to value for customers.

MSPs as automation experts. The strategic application of automation can help IT teams work smarter and faster. But determining which solutions to use and for which use cases requires ample investigation and domain knowledge. MSPs that can develop this credibility and help CIOs select and optimize AI, machine learning tools and robotic process automation technologies will bring a lot of value. As well, MSPs that can bring data science and machine learning and cloud development skills to the table will be hugely valuable, since IT organizations need help configuring automation platforms for specific use cases and analyzing the outputs to improve future policies and decisions. MSPs are well-equipped to deliver these new skills at scale for their clients.
MSPs as innovation enablers. The end goal for MSPs in leading some of the activities outlined above is to free up time and resources so that IT organizations can focus on business alignment. If MSPs deliver expertise in strategic areas such as cloud orchestration, intelligent automation and platform modernization, they give CIOs the foundation for building new customer-facing services that can win market share. Progressive MSPs establish relationships across the business, working closely with the CIO on building bridges internally as well as externally, given their network of CIO customers. There’s a high value on real-world experience that can be quickly shared between companies knee-deep in transformation projects.

Technology complexity, sometimes called technical debt, is becoming problematic for many enterprises. It’s hard to gain benefits from investing in cloud, AI or IoT when legacy systems, processes and traditional skill sets are predominant. MSPs have long histories of helping IT departments implement new technologies and navigate change. Right now is the perfect time for MSPs to move out of the business of transactional IT – which automation is starting to replace anyway – and into the higher-value work of digital innovation.

Jim Lampert is VP of service provider sales at OpsRamp. He has 30-plus years of experience in the managed services industry, having worked at GreenPages, Cloud Technology Partners and Dell EMC. Follow him on LinkedIn or @OpsRamp on Twitter.