Can MSPs Maintain Control of Their Profession?

Nearly all the conversation over 3 decades has been around how MSPs can safeguard their customers. And, they do. It is safe to say that without their MSPs, many thousands of customers would be far worse off when it comes to their IT management and data protection.

Today, MSPs are now being targeted by cybercriminals as a means of getting to the customer. While this is a larger "vendor management" issue receiving global attention, MSPs need to recognize this threat and start to take very real actions to ensure their internal networks are secure.

The Invasion of the Managed Services Profession

We are now several years into an "invasion" of external business models entering the managed services profession. While the MSP profession has largely been fueled by existing "IT" sources (meaning, MSPs have traditionally been created by VARs, IT consultants, data centers, and other technology entities), there has been an emerging trend of non-technology entities entering managed services at an alarming rate.

Today, there is an indisputable trend in accounting firms, office supply businesses, and other "non-traditional" entities entering the managed services profession. Each of these market segments represents unique challenges to the managed services profession.

For example, office supply companies have very good business skills and have been around for many years, but have very little technical skill. More importantly, these businesses have been facing commodity pressures for many years, undoubtedly one of the reasons they find managed services so appealing.

Accounting firms present another unique challenge. While accounting firms understand how to run a professional services business, IT is a new element they must learn. But, it is the audit services these accounting firms provide which pose a challenge; how can a profession both manage and audit IT data privacy and security? As more accounting practices acquire MSP businesses, it begs the question of whether they intend to give up the audit practice or continue auditing businesses while at the same time managing their data and IT infrastructure.

Don't let these challenges disturb you. There are very real and significant opportunities facing MSPs in 2019. These opportunities must be pursued aggressively, but only after we begin to understand the challenges we face as a profession.