Top Vertical Market MSPs Are Growing 50 Percent Annually

At first glance, HEIT and ETG — two top managed services providers — have very little in common. While HEIT focuses on financial services and community banks, ETG makes its entire living in the health care market. As a result, HEIT and ETG never run into each other in the market. Yet they have one key trait in common: Both companies grew their recurring revenues roughly 50 percent in 2010 vs. 2009. Can those growth rates continue in 2011?

Early anecdotal evidence at ETG, based in Birmingham, Ala., suggests continued momentum. During a phone call with MSPmentor last week, ETG CEO Mike Jones told me his company is having trouble keeping pace with customer inquiries. In recent years, ETG has declined all IT-related work outside of the health care vertical. The result: ETG is a pure-play health care MSP and yes, January 2011 growth sounds like it remains just as strong as 2010 annual growth.

Meanwhile, HEIT enjoys 47 percent annual growth on the managed services front. The effort includes staff expansion and new customer wins. In a press release, HEIT says key team additions included Peter Matino, senior vice president of sales and marketing; Vicki Pacella, HR director; and Jaine Kim, marketing director. In addition, industry veterans Tom Shen and Paul Reymann joined the company as strategic advisors. Shen also serves on the HEIT board.

HEIT has also been busy on the merger front, getting cozy with Simpler-Webb in September 2010. At the time HEIT CEO Dan Holt and Simpler-Webb Co-Founder Jeff Simpler described the deal in this FastChat video:

We’ll be watching to see how HEIT and ETG, respectfully, strive to maintain growth in 2011. Also, MSPmentor realizes that plenty of MSPs struggle — and fail — when they dive deep into a single vertical. But I do wonder: Can horizontal-market MSPs generate 50-plus percent growth? If so, how?

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