Digital transformation has reached nearly every business and industry. Whether it’s creating a total reimagining of the workflow, modernizing IT infrastructure and systems, or just migrating services and operations to the cloud, the technological demands of today’s business are growing at a rapid pace.
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are playing a bigger role in helping create, manage, and protect business infrastructure and cloud services. In 2022, MSPs need to focus on three key areas to provide their customers:
- Cyber Security
- Cloud Services
- Education
Let’s dig a little deeper into each of these three emerging Managed Service Provider trends.
Cyber Security
Cybercrime is no longer about lone hackers in a dark basement trying to hack their way into systems. Cybercrime is now the domain of organized crime and state actors that are increasingly targeting businesses of all sizes. These attacks have become so huge that if the damage inflicted by cyberattacks was added up, it would equal the world’s third-largest economy after the US and China. We’re on track to experience some $6 trillion of damage by the end of 2021.
We tend to hear about large-scale attacks, such as the recent one that took down the Colonial Pipeline and shut down gas and oil delivery to the Southeast or the SolarWinds hack that targeted software used by thousands of companies and government agencies.
While cyber-attacks against small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) get less media attention, they are more common than you might think. 43% of all data breaches occurred at SMBs. These businesses tend to suffer devastating losses.
The average cyberattack costs companies $200,000. What’s more frightening is that more than half of small and midsize companies that are victims of these attacks never fully recover. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 60% of SMBs go out of business within six months after a cyberattack.
Businesses of all sizes need Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that are focused on security to protect and defend their IT assets — especially for smaller businesses that do not otherwise have access to IT resources.
Cloud Services
Cloud computing services have increasingly been part of the IT plan for most businesses. 94% of all enterprises use cloud services and nearly half of all businesses are storing sensitive and proprietary data on the cloud.
As more employees have started working from home, the importance of reliable and robust cloud services has only escalated.
Cloud services allow companies to share applications, data, and communications platforms regardless of where their employees work. Virtualization of desktop tools has allowed organizations to let their employees split time between home and office while still accessing the same work platforms. This hybrid work environment is very convenient, but it puts an even greater demand on reliable cloud services and support.
MSPs need to provide reliable cloud services that support cloud applications, remote workers, backup, and disaster recovery. They also need to manage security and performance while providing exceptional customer support to be successful.
Education
Digital optimization and transformation are happening at an amazing pace across all sectors of business. Many customers, especially in smaller businesses or those without deep IT staff, are struggling to keep up with this tech evaluation.
MSPs can play an important role in educating customers on the value of modernizing their IT infrastructure, how to protect it, and the risks of failing to do so.
MSPs also need to stay current. Technicians and Engineers need to make sure they are aware of the latest cloud trends and challenges. Continuing education and certification can improve your knowledge base and help give customers confidence in your ability to navigate the rapidly changing IT environment.
What Customers Want from a Managed Service Provider
As an MSP, you need to provide reliable cloud services for your customers, which are:
- Secure
- Mobile
- Scalable
- Cost-effective
By focusing efforts in 2022 on security, cloud services, and education, MSPs are setting the agenda for growth.