Managed services more popular than ever

Barracuda MSP has launched its latest The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2020 which provides insights into the changes and challenges that managed service providers are seeing across nine countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

The 2020 report takes a deep dive into the global MSP market as channel partners the world over are presented with the opportunity to bolster their security offering to better support the new, more vulnerable mobile workforce that has emerged in the wake of COVID-19.

Almost 300 global MSP's were interviewed, spanning the UK, US, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, and Spain, as well as ANZ.

The findings revealed that regardless of location, MSPs across the globe are facing similar challenges when it comes to provision and the growth opportunities around future security offerings.

Key findings:

• Nearly all aiming to offer new services – A significant 91% (96% in ANZ) of MSP's said they were planning to increase the breadth and depth of their services capacity in the next 12 months.
   
• Managed services the biggest earner – 69% (76% in ANZ) of respondents identified managed services as the biggest opportunity for increasing sales in 2020. This is significantly up since 2019, which saw 54% noting managed services as their biggest opportunity. 
   
• Hybrid approach preferred – 53% (50% in ANZ) of respondents expect to generate more than half (51%) or more of their business through managed services in 2020, with approximately another 45% saying they expected to generate up to 50% of business through managed services.
   
• Focus on security. Endpoint security, email Security and network security all made it into the top five services table in 2020. In contrast, in 2019 email security was the only security service to make the top five.
   
• Rising security concerns and a lack of in-house skills driving MSPs – A majority 79% of MSPs felt customer security concerns were a good opportunity, particularly with the rise of remote workers. 72% said the lack of in-house security skills among their customers was also creating new revenue possibilities.
  In ANZ, keeping good customer relationships (80%) was high on the list.
   
• Demand for security services is increasing – 88% (92% in ANZ) of those questioned said that demand for security services was either 'moderately' or 'significantly' increasing.

This year's findings once again indicate significant positive shifts in MSP perception, growth and adoption as end users look to recruit cost-effective and trusted cybersecurity skills to address their own skills gap and protect their data from increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals.

"Since launching MSP Day, and the corresponding Evolving MSP Landscape report, we've witnessed a steady rise in the appetite for managed services throughout the world, which is evident in this year's findings," says Barracuda MSP solutions SVP and GM Brian Babineau.

"Among that appetite, security is the most sought after service, particularly given our current global situation and the willingness of cybercriminals to exploit organisations that are suddenly much more vulnerable.

"Security as a managed service is only going to become more sought after as organisations continue to wrestle with a shortage of skills and adjust to new working conditions, presenting a huge opportunity for MSPs to bolster their portfolios and cement themselves further as vital partners to their customer base," adds CompTIA industry analysis senior director Carolyn April.

"Despite the skills gap and the pressure of consolidation for many, this report portrays a growing opportunity for the MSPs of the world as the adoption of managed services continues to rise - of which security offerings are the leading commodity.