MARKET REPORT MSP
“For the MSP community, supplying secure SD WANs to international companies is a massive opportunity. We
often think of International companies as large corporates, but more and more businesses are setting up offices
in different countries.” Emily Nerland, Channel Director EMEA at Masergy
MSP Challenges
In this feature we take a look at some of the major challenges MSP face in today’s market as they look to be a
central enabler for businesses looking to digitally transform.
Although we are hearing a
lot about the rise of the
Managed Service Provider
(MSP) model of late
according to Datto and their
2019 State of the MSP Report
47% of MSPs have been in
business for 16+ years. Despite
this we are still seeing around
10% of MSP businesses who
have lived relatively short lives
(1-3 years). The market is so
muddled these days I wouldn’t
be surprised if more people
are adopting these models but
because of their history still don’t
identify as an MSP specifically.
The UK is in a pretty
unique place in history at the
moment, the fanfare which has
surrounded Brexit has caused
some short-term challenges in
terms of currency fluctuations
and recruitment, as well as
many others.
According to a recent study
from IPED Consulting, 44
percent of managed service
providers (MSPs) report that
recruiting and retaining
technical staff is a critical or
significant barrier to growth.
MSPs also say sales and
technical training are two of
the most important elements
provided by strategic vendor
channel programmes.
“Partners don’t want to jump
through hoops to reach lofty
revenue thresholds or achieve
vendor portfolio adoption
criteria that doesn’t fit their
customers’ needs – they just
want to run their business
efficiently,” said Michelle
Welch, senior vice president
of marketing at WatchGuard.
“Whether they’re focused
purely on network security,
secure Wi-Fi or MFA, partners
that invest the time can easily
capitalise on the same financial
incentives and support as our
largest partners, regardless of
their size, business model or
revenue capabilities.”
Emily Nerland, Channel
Director EMEA at Masergy
commented, “Moving to an
annuity-based sale is a no
brainer for a business but
motivating a sales force to sell
this requires work. One of the
biggest challenges I’ve seen is
supporting the partner teams
to move their offering from a
capex to opex model. So real
thought needs to be given as to
how to incentivise your sales
team and also how to keep that
motivation long term.”
Ben Boswell, area vice
president, Europe at WWT
said “The challenge is being
able to help customers shorten
the evaluation process and
understand business goals,
rather than just purchasing
the products which could
potentially cannibalise their
own business by allowing
customers to take advantage of
hybrid IT options.
Companies must simplify
architectural standards into
standardised configurations to
be able to pinpoint different
service lines as opposed to a
particular technology: campus
and factory infrastructure,
for example, should not be
approached in the same way.
WWT provides a minimal
viable product from an
architectural standpoint so
companies can standardise
small, medium and large
offerings and build reference
architecture to meet the service
level they’d like to deliver.”
Cloud drivers
Cloud and big data have been
big drivers for businesses
a managed service provider
(MSP) to deliver digital
transformation, migrating
infrastructure and mission
critical workloads to the cloud
is a central undertaking.
Customers can be nervous
about this transformative
step, despite knowing that it’s
essential if they are going to
stay competitive. This puts
pressure on the MSP, who owns
the customer relationship, to
be confident in the solution
>
Ben Boswell, area
vice president,
Europe at WWT
looking to migrate from their
on-premise roots and gain
competitive advantage. GDPR
and data sovereignty issues may
have made businesses warry as
they look to avoid a PR disaster
or, at worst, a business sinking
fine. This need in the market
has played right into the MSP
hands as they look to deliver
digital transformation.
Stuart Day, Director of
Channel, iland commented
“When customers turn to
THE KEY TO WINNING – LEE DREDGE, CEO, ITSB
• Demonstrating our USP as a trusted technology partner
• Evolving to focus on IT security and Cloud Services as a strong area of
our business
• Delivering value with strong referrals, case studies and
demonstrating proof of how we work with clients
• Lead generation has always been a strength however we’ve recently
enhanced this with our recent merger with Crystal Clear Telecom
which opens up an exciting opportunity to add more value to both
client bases.
32 | Comms Business Magazine | June 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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