Fluctuations between Q1 and Q2 in terms of biggest challenges

Written by Allison Francis
August 27, 2021

We also wanted to know the challenges managed service providers are seeing in Q2 compared to Q1. While expanding customer bases and hiring remained fairly level, marketing jumped big time, from 6% in Q1 to 16% in Q2. Why the sharp uptick? Why the overall lack of movement from the other challenges?

Many MSPs are now getting their feet under them from a chaos standpoint. As we get back to business, now we have a new set of problems.

“There are a couple of things I see in the ecosystem that are contributors to these stats,” said Juan Fernandez, vice president of managed IT services at MSP ImageNet. “Our competition got better, buyers are shopping online for the best fit and the employment market is hot for remote workers. MSPs grew like weeds during the pandemic and we hired like crazy. But now, MSPs are feeling the pains of, ‘how do I keep everyone busy?’ That is where many are looking to try and increase marketing and sales capabilities.”

The flip side of the coin, according to Fernandez, is the hiring problem. Many IT professionals have left their day jobs for the remote work opportunities that many MSPs are offering.

Marketing is becoming more competitive as the MSP ecosystem advances. Many are experiencing an identity crisis, and are unsure of which way to go. Cybersecurity, managed services, managed security (oh my) and the cherry on top, social selling, are all mixing together.

Jeremy MacBean, director of marketing communications, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Canada, emphasizes the overall shift in approach for the marketing spike.

“This all goes back to the fact that the narrative is changing,” he said. “Our go-to-market messaging now needs to correspond to what people care about and how they talk about technology. And so it’s changing our approach. We have to go to market, so the job of the marketing team is to give sales and the clients things to read and things to watch that speak to what they give a damn about. Business outcomes must be driven by empathy rather than feature sets.”

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Allison Francis

Allison Francis is a writer, public relations and marketing communications professional with experience working with clients in industries such as business technology, telecommunications, health care, education, the trade show and meetings industry, travel/tourism, hospitality, consumer packaged goods and food/beverage. She specializes in working with B2B technology companies involved in hyperconverged infrastructure, managed IT services, business process outsourcing, cloud management and customer experience technologies. Allison holds a bachelor's degree in public relations and marketing from Drake University. An Iowa native, she resides in Denver, Colorado.