Press release

Managed Service Providers Focused on Becoming Strategic Advisors in 2019

0
Sponsored by Businesswire

Datto,
Inc.
, the leading global provider of IT solutions delivered through
managed service providers (MSPs), today announced the release of its
third annual State
of the MSP Report
. Based on a survey of more than 1,600 MSP partners
around the globe, the report showcases the continued evolution of the
MSP industry, as MSPs become more strategic advisors to their clients
and derive a larger portion of their revenue through recurring IT
services.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190522005090/en/

(Graphic: Business Wire)

(Graphic: Business Wire)

“The survey shows what we see every day — it’s a great time to be an
MSP. It’s a positively charged environment,” said Rob Rae, vice
president of business development, Datto. ”Almost half of surveyed
partners have been working in the industry for more than 15 years and
nearly 100 percent of them said that right now is the best time to be in
their industry. For more than a decade, Datto has been passionate about
providing the right technology to MSPs, who support the backbone of the
economy through their work with small businesses.”

As IT plays a growing role in the success of SMBs everywhere, IT service
providers are adjusting their business model to include more managed
services. The survey found that more than 80 percent of MSPs report
recurring services driving a portion of their revenue
, highlighting
an industry shift from IT service providers solely modeled on ad-hoc
services to becoming more strategic advisors to their SMB clients. In
fact, 44 percent of respondents stated that more than 50 percent of
their revenue is a result of recurring services.

“SMBs in particular struggle with increasing IT complexity, an explosion
in security threats, greater compliance demands, and intensifying skills
shortages. More than ever, companies are turning to trusted IT partners
to help solve these challenges,” said Alastair Edwards, chief analyst,
Canalys. “Canalys research shows that more than 80 percent of channel
partners around the world now offer some form of managed service. To
stay ahead, IT service providers must evolve their businesses, shifting
towards more recurring revenue and greater industry specialization.
Partnerships with the right technology companies and platform providers
will be critical to success.”

To better capture managed services revenue, MSPs are expanding their
portfolios with services they might not traditionally think to offer on
a recurring contract, such as Networking
as a service
. SMBs are willing to pay for managed services to keep
their IT infrastructure and networks running efficiently. In addition to
taking on a more strategic role and expanding their solutions sets, 56
percent of MSPs specialize in services for a particular industry,
with
healthcare holding the number one spot for the second year in a row.

To keep pace with the growth in managed services, 71 percent of MSPs
plan to hire more employees in the next 12 months. While marketing and
sales remain the top challenges, the data shows that MSPs are becoming
savvier about this aspect of their business.

Security concerns also remain a top priority for MSPs and their clients. Ransomware
and cybersecurity have almost doubled as a pain point, from 14 percent
in 2017 to 30 percent in 2019.

To read the findings, access the State of the MSP Report here.

About Datto

As the world’s leading provider of IT solutions delivered by Managed
Service Providers (MSPs), Datto believes there is no limit to what small
and medium businesses can achieve with the right technology. Datto
offers business continuity and disaster recovery, networking, business
management, and file backup and sync solutions, and has created a
one-of-a-kind ecosystem of partners that provide Datto solutions to half
a million businesses across more than 130 countries. Since its founding
in 2007, Datto has earned hundreds of awards for its rapid growth,
product excellence, superior technical support, and for fostering an
outstanding workplace. With global headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut,
Datto has international offices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands,
Denmark, Germany, Canada, Australia, China, and Singapore. Learn more at datto.com.