Top 5 Takeaways from Kaseya’s 2018 MSP Benchmarking Survey
See what Miguel Lopez, SVP of managed services providers at Kaseya, says are the top takeaways for partners from this year's survey.
IT management solution provider Kaseya just released the results of its seventh annual MSP Benchmark Survey.
Kaseya’s Miguel Lopez
From pricing models to service offerings, the survey revealed opportunities created by the digital transformation that many MSPs aren’t yet taking advantage of. Staying behind the curve could cost laggard partners big bucks in missed revenue opportunities.
Click through to see what Miguel Lopez, SVP of managed services providers at Kaseya, says are the top five takeaways.
PSA Drops in Importance
“There are a lot of things that PSA promised that haven’t been delivered,” says Lopez. “You could argue that from some of the original vendors, PSA hasn’t really evolved in many ways.”MSPs agree. Only 16 percent cite PSA as their most critical application. It’s been overtaken by IT documentation, coming in at 20 percent. Lopez says IT documentation is a more structured, easy-to-consume means of tracking and managing data from devices.
MSPs Underestimate GDPR
Many MSPs look at the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming out of the EU in May as not applicable to their business, but Lopez says that’s shortsighted. In a global economy, it’s easier than partners might think for their clients to have interactions with customers in Europe, who are protected by the new data privacy laws. What’s more, those that think GDPR-like compliancy requirements are constrained to the EU are deluding themselves.“This concept is not going away,” says Lopez. “There are going to be more regulations to help secure businesses, individuals and their customers. It’s just the reality of where we’re going.”
Too Many MSPs Stop at Commoditized Security Solutions
If you’re offering antivirus, anti-malware and managed firewall solutions, you’re in good company. The vast majority of MSPs offer these commoditized security solutions.But in today’s threat landscape, that isn’t enough. Less than half of respondents offered services around identity and access management, which encompasses more advanced features like two-factor authentication, single sign-on and password management. That leaves customers wide open to cyberattacks, and MSPs vulnerable to competitors who go the extra cybersecurity mile.
Pricing on Value Makes Sense in Today’s Channel
If you’re still operating on a cost-based or, God forbid, price-match pricing model, you’re missing out on the whole point of the services model. Customers today expect MSPs to understand their business goals and help them create tech solutions that will further their progress.That expertise shouldn’t come for free. Lopez says partners need to force themselves to have conversations that are about more than just technology or risk losing out on higher margins.
Still Plenty of Cloud Runway
While 85 percent of respondents offer some sort of cloud solutions, a surprising number have yet to tap into the revenue potential of cloud services like email hosting or backup. At least half of those surveyed that provide cloud services reported 11 percent or greater margins from multiple service offerings, including cloud email solutions like hosted Exchange alone, cloud backup and Office 365 services.“What’s amazing to me is ... how many MSPs in each region – Americas, EMEA, and APAC – aren’t offering some type of cloud services. In each area, a little around 50 percent,” says Lopez. “There are still so many partners that are still not offering services.”
