The technology industry has had its share of disruptive moments, but the economic impact of COVID-19 is likely to dwarf anything we’ve lived through to date. While assumptions and traditions have been largely scuttled and transformed, we’re also more reliant on technology than ever.
Earlier this year, the MSP industry was surging. Already valued at nearly $200 billion, it was predicted to grow another 75 percent by 2025.
This growth was largely fueled by small and midsize businesses whose IT needs surpassed their in-house expertise and capacity. There were more systems, more endpoints, and increased security threats to worry about as increasing numbers of everyday functions depended on technology.
Much of that isn’t going to change because of this pandemic. Businesses won’t revert to the old ways of doing business, privacy and security regulations won’t be rolled back, and cybercrime volume will unfortunately continue its upward trend.
Many businesses will become even more reliant on technology services. Their switch to online ordering, telehealth, remote work, and other solutions to facilitate social distancing and complying with public health guidelines won’t disappear when a vaccine is available.
This increase in scope of what now qualifies as mission-critical technology for SMBs should keep MSPs busy. These businesses don’t have the time or talent to manage it all themselves.
At the same time, SMBs are facing enormous financial pressures due to the economic crash that has accompanied COVID-19. Many are losing revenue, reducing headcount, and some won’t survive this crisis.
It’s hard to predict what the new landscape will look like. There will inevitably be fewer clients still standing when this is over, but those that make it through will use more MSP services than ever.
Whether this results in a net gain or loss for MSPs is still to be determined. Individual MSPs may have quite varied experiences based on their location, target verticals, capital reserves, and other factors. Yet we can still learn from how things were trending pre-crisis as we prepare for this unknown.
That said, there is still much to be learned from where we were at the start of the year. The Kaseya 2020 MSP Benchmark Survey Results Report offers a host of insights.
Read the complete post at Channel Futures.
