Amid rapid digital transformation and record-high threat exposure, security remains the biggest concern for customers and the greatest revenue opportunity for MSPs
Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider for cloud-first security solutions, has announced key findings from its 2022 The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business report, launched in conjunction with MSP Day. Now in its fifth year, MSP Day was created by Barracuda in 2018 and continues to highlight, challenge, and celebrate the evolving managed services industry.
This year’s report demonstrates that there is still a huge appetite for managed services, with global services-related MSP revenue set to increase by over a third in 2022 compared with 2021. Barracuda surveyed 500 decision-makers and knowledge workers from managed service provider (MSP) organizations in countries across the North America, EMEA, and ANZ regions, with between five and 250 employees.
The answers revealed similar opportunities and challenges throughout the different regions when it comes to service provision, and similar pressures from customer expectations.
“The themes in this year’s report align with what we have been hearing from our Partner Advisory Council,” said Neal Bradbury, SVP, Barracuda MSP. “We know that MSPs desire strong relationships with partners that can help them provide the very best managed security services to their customers, while at the same time allowing them to focus on the well-being of their own employees.”
Key findings from the report include:
- Growth in managed services revenues predicted for 2022. MSPs expect revenues to grow by over a third in 2022, with average revenues predicted at US $12.12 million this year, compared with US $8.93 million in 2021, according to survey respondents. And while managed services are not the sole source of revenue for many respondents, service provision is on a growth trajectory. In 2021, 53% of respondents’ income came from services, and this is predicted to rise to 63% in 2022. On average in 2021, respondents’ service offerings increased by four services, but in 2022, 94% expect their services portfolio to increase by an average of six services.
- Employee burnout is a growing concern with fears of cyberattacks on the rise. MSPs will have to focus more on employee wellbeing to stay successful. Nearly one in five (16%) respondents believed the average employee is highly stressed, while 56% said stress levels could be defined as moderate. Further, 80% of respondents believed their customers are increasingly concerned about being breached by cybercriminals and are looking to them for help, which is creating more pressure on the MSP to deliver.
- Concerns over regulations and compliance are increasing. Adding to that strain are evolving cybersecurity regulations. Just 36% of MSP respondents were confident of being fully up-to-date and compliant with these regulations. Another 36% believe that there are too many cybersecurity regulations to comply with. It is no surprise that 89% felt their organisations needed further support and education around these regulations.Ultimately, failure to address these issues could lead to both workforce performance and customer service problems further down the line.
- Nearly 100% of respondents need more vendor support. A whopping 98% of those surveyed admitted they had at least one area where they need additional vendor support. These included security incident response planning (44% of respondents), help with hybrid working best practices (50%) and marketing support (44%).
“The annual MSP Day and report is vital to properly understanding the concerns and ambitions of our partners,” said Jason Howells, VP International Sales, Barracuda MSP. “One of the most important things we can do for our channel partners is to keep asking the right questions, which enables us to identify where they need our help the most. The interactions we have on MSP Day are a critical part of achieving this as they give us the opportunity to address the points raised in the report and act on what our partners tell us.”
Resources:
View the full report: https://barracudamsp.com/msp-resources/ebooks-whitepapers/report-the-evolving-landscape-of-the-msp-business-report-2022/
Read the blog post: https://smartermsp.com/global-msp-day-is-finally-here/
