Brianna White

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Jul 30, 2019
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Managed service providers (MSPs) worry about a lot of things—the changing customer, the need for employees with new and advanced technical skills and breaking into new markets, among others. And while these things may keep MSPs up at night, they also present business opportunities.  “MSPs, at least some smart ones who had planned ahead for the future and planned ahead for a crisis, they fared well during COVID. The move to remote work really spurred a lot of companies to need instant IT help,” said Carolyn April, during a ChannelCon 2022 session on the role of the evolving MSP that also featured a panel discussion moderated by Juan Fernandez, CEO of the MSP Growth Coalition.   According to CompTIA research, MSPs indicated they had a generally optimistic outlook about the industry earlier in 2022. However, April provided a caveat: It’s likely attitudes have shifted over recent months with unpredictable and uncertain market conditions.  “We all worry about the big existential things that can happen,” said April, citing MSP concerns over macroeconomics and supply chain disruptions. “But most of them we don’t have any control over.” 
A Shift from Service to Experience 
According to CompTIA research, 54% of MSPs say customer experience expectations is a top change driver in the industry.  “Customers are definitely changing—the way they buy, who they are, and that impacts the business that you are running,” said April. “If you were running an MSP 10 years ago, I would guess that the type of customer you deal with today is different than the type of customer you dealt with 10 years ago... and you’ve either made adjustments or you haven’t,” said April. If you haven’t, it’s probably keeping you up at night, she added. One major shift with customers—the expectations around customer experience.  “I believe the term customer service is dead,” said Paco Lebron, founder of ProdigyTeks during the ChannelCon panel discussion. “I think customer experience is basically the next thing. It’s not just different terminology—it’s the frictionless experience around your ability to sell and support.”
Continue reading: https://connect.comptia.org/blog/msps-are-evolving
 

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