MSP Influencers #4 – The Biggest Challenges of 2021

BY IT GLUE | December 10, 2020

We’re back with the next instalment of our MSP Influencers series. In the last edition, our focus was on the biggest opportunities that 2021 will present to the MSP market. This week, we will look at the other side of the coin as our experts weigh in on the major challenges that MSPs will be up against in 2021.

Almost everyone on the panel agreed that keeping team productivity and morale up will be a major challenge. Kaseya‘s CEO, Fred Voccola, notes that “technicians will be pushed to their limits due to pricing pressures,” adding that “MSPs need to take a close look at their technology stack. Rather than focusing on having the coolest technology, MSPs need to invest in tech that is deeply integrated and drives greater efficiencies for their staff.”

James Ratcliff from Ratcliff IT echoed the same and emphasized that there should be a conscious effort to “build trust” within the team. Nigel Moore from Tech Tribe pointed out that “you’ll need to dig internally to create the energy to keep both you and your team focused and moving forward to take advantage of all the enormous opportunities that will be out there.”

MSP growth expert Richard Tubb feels that in order to be successful in 2021, you have to go beyond expectations and recognize the client’s real pain points. He goes on to explain further, “I’m talking about MSPs helping their clients digitally transform their businesses through system and process efficiency advice, offering their clients add-ons for effective working from home, and importantly, realizing that any business is a human business.” Mark Copeman, the author of Helpdesk Habits and MSP Secrets Revealed, also reiterated the same. He noted that “people will never stop buying from people, and the world craves authenticity right now.”

Nadir Merchant, the General Manager of IT Glue, felt that the uncertainty surrounding the economy will cause some significant worries. He notes that “not knowing what the economy is going to look like next year will cause many MSPs and their clients to want to sit back and ‘wait-and-see’. The business that overcomes this and finds a way to continue to grow will emerge as new leaders when the economy fully opens.”

MSP expert Erick Simpson believes that businesses will have to increase their security and cloud offerings and capabilities because “customers have been pushed to increase their security posture and accelerate the adoption of more cloud services as a requirement to support their remote workforces.”

Overall, these responses tell us that if you can keep your team focused and adapt and align with where the industry and business is moving, you will succeed.

Next week, we’ll give you the lowdown on what MSPs can do to mitigate the impact of an extended, pandemic-driven economy.

Until then, we invite you to take a look at the 2020 Global MSP Benchmark Report, which compared pre-and post-COVID perceptions of the MSP industry.

Download IT Glue’s Global MSP Benchmark Checklist

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