Gartner Names MSP ATSG ‘Challenger’ in First-Ever DaaS Magic Quadrant

In a rare feat, an MSP has landed in a Gartner “Magic Quadrant,” a spot usually reserved for some of the biggest vendors in the industry.

This is the first time Gartner has released a Magic Quadrant report focusing on desktop as a service (DaaS), which Anthony D’Ambrosi, CEO of ATSG, highlighted in a virtual sit-down with Channel Futures. He notes the significance of Gartner mentioning his company alongside major players like Amazon Web Services, which also landed in the “challenger” quadrant.

ATSG also was mentioned in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for managed network services prior to landing in Gartner’s 2020 and 2021 MQ as a “challenger.”

ATSG’s Anthony D’Ambrosi

“And in 2022, we were elevated to leader status,” D’Ambrosi told Channel Futures.

This year, D’Ambrosi shared that acquiring “challenger” standing in Gartner’s inaugural DaaS Magic Quadrant report is noteworthy for a partner organization.

“This time is special because not only is this the first DaaS Magic Quadrant, but we were noted in the report as having “gone further than most other vendors concerning integrating service assurance and digital employee experience (DEX) technologies into its offerings.”

Speaking on the strength of the firm’s technology, Gartner notes in the report that ATSG “proactively manages the experience of users,” with the DaaS Magic Quadrant also placing ATSG as No. 3 in the “high-performance” category of the critical capabilities portion.

Gartner named Microsoft, Citrix and VMware as “leaders” in the inaugural DaaS Magic Quadrant.

DaaS Magic Quadrant Forecasts Big Growth

Forecasters at Gartner predict that by 2026, 80% of organizational purchases will incorporate vendor-assembled or vendor-managed DaaS solutions, compared with less than 20% in 2023.

D’Ambrosi attributes the success it has witnessed to ATSGOne, a multicloud intelligence platform, coupled with comprehensive managed services that cater to various needs. The junction of the two forms what he deemed “an essential component of our broader intelligent IT solutions as a service portfolio.”

Gartner notes that in most digital transformation plans by 2026, an astonishing 80% will contain DaaS. Furthermore, according to data soon to drop in the Channel Futures Quarterly Market Outlook Survey:

• Managed security was the No. 1 technology sector, where 34% of MSPs said they expanded their vendor pool in the second quarter of 2023. Approximately one in 10 (9%) of partners said they added (DaaS) vendors during the quarter, which was flat compared to the previous quarter.
• When asked which services or technologies MSPs saw their most sizable growth with in the second quarter, disaster recovery/business continuity was tops with with 26%, and partners selected DaaS at a rate of 10%, or 4% higher than the previous quarter.

D’Ambrosi told Channel Futures that this data demonstrate the desire and need for such solutions. The company’s DaaS solution and its distinct capabilities deliver what he calls “exceptional outcomes and experiences to our clients.”

And that is represented in the growth the firm has experienced, at least according to Gartner, which estimates that ATSG doubled its DaaS revenue between 2020 and 2022, placing the company “well ahead of market growth rates, and above the levels of comparable scale vendors,” Gartner writes.

On the compliance front, ATSG appears to have that covered, as its offerings are geared toward common compliance standards for those in regulated industries like finance — leading to fewer barriers to adopting the technology.

“This will significantly shorten the adoption time frame for regulated clients, especially midsize enterprises with fewer available IT resources,” Gartner writes in its DaaS Magic Quadrant.

For richer insights and analysis of the Quarterly Market Outlook Survey, look out for the upcoming Omdia (now owned by Channel Futures’ parent company Informa Tech) Quarterly Market Outlook Survey Insights report, which will drop later this month as part of Omdia’s Channel Partner Strategies Intelligence Service.