There has been a trend in the last few years where multi-year managed services agreements have been getting shorter in their term. This trend is not evidence of a change in demand for managed services, rather a shift in how clients want to interact with their MSPs.

Today, as parts of the world begin to reopen from the pandemic quarantine, MSPs may need to re-examine their service contracts to determine what durations will be optimal for clients. Clients desperately in need of managed services, may be hesitant to engage in longer term, multi-year contacts and may want shorter 1 year (or less) durations in order to get through this recovery period with minimal risk.

The MSP Zone speaks with Stephen Sweett, president of Buchanan Technologies about MSP contract lengths, and how MSPs are better suited to survive difficult economic periods compared to other IT service provider business models.