Cloud, Security, Hybrid Work: The NextGen 101 Shares Biggest Growth Drivers
These partners are driving new waves of growth and innovation for the channel and have a unique pulse on opportunities.
August 24, 2021
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“Security is driving a lot of our new business conversations. Prospects don’t know that they aren’t secure, we point out a few simple items and they are shocked. People are aware of all of the headlines about ransomware, so having security conversations is much easier these days. When we talk about the ways that their data and employees are not secure, people are listening.”
“We are seeing a lot of demand for server migration to cloud. I think people got a better understanding of how remote access works through this pandemic and have now embraced the idea of cloud computing. This shift has allowed companies to expand their geographical reach, reduce office space and add business continuity.”
“Our growth has been driven by the economies of digital transformation. Our clients need to be able to meet and communicate with their clients in the way they prefer, whether it be video, analog phone, text, or in person. Our clients also have been implementing technologies to enable them to complete their work from any location, not just work or home. Modernizing not just their technologies but their workflow. We have helped our customers over the past couple years use technology to streamline their business processes.
“Enabling more real-time data collection at the time of a client meeting or a sale to maximize C-suite vision into real-time business activities. Our clients who have been most successful have used their small business size as an advantage to be able to pivot their business processes around anything COVID-19 could throw at them from virtual showroom tours, quickly setting up employees to work from home and even bringing in new product lines to meet new demand.”
“Our growth is being driven by the media coverage of the frequent cyberattacks and the fact that technical talent is scarce.
“SMBs are looking for reliable technical outfits that can meet their technical support needs but at the same time are knowledgeable enough to put in security stacks built on strategy and provide resiliency.
“We don’t just offer managed services but we go above and beyond for our clients looking to fill any technical voids they may have from VoIP to web development back to securing all business systems, data and applications. We have … solutions that are behavior-based combined with cloud-based identity and access management, and throw in their application white-listing with SOC monitoring so that we are always in the know of what’s happening, not reacting to end users’ thoughts of “did we just get compromised?”
“COVID-19 has disrupted companies in a multitude of ways. Each of these challenges provides a platform for opportunity.
“One of the challenges that came with the global pandemic was providing ergonomic equipment to quickly shift to work from home. Because of a national shortage of office equipment, we reached out to additional vendors and found new sources to gather enough resources to support our team. This allowed us to provide continued, exceptional support to our clients and also allowed us to keep our staff active throughout the lockdown in a safe environment.
“We were also required to shift our methodology and best practices. Before the pandemic, we utilized on-premises support on a daily and consistent basis. This approach is important as it provides a more personal and connected relationship with our clients and also helps to separate us from other companies. We implemented more video calling and meetings with our clients to allow for personalized interaction. We were also creative in our efforts to supply the same support that would normally be provided on premises. By shipping eligible equipment and working remotely with our clients, we were able to help them comply with COVID-19 restrictions and keep our employees and theirs safe during this time.”
“Our growth, historically and currently, is being driven by word of mouth. Companies are recognizing their need for IT support and (even more) cybersecurity, and they’re asking their friends for referrals.”
“My current growth is because of my focus on cybersecurity and my message is for the small to midsize business. We are taking the approach: You can do your tech, but security is specialized; let us use our security stack to protect you. I am in the process of onboarding my third client since I started this campaign.
“Projects have also picked up. Even though the buzz in the air is all about the “virus” – SMB seems to embracing the change and moving forward. They are spending money because the price of everything has gone up along with the lead times.”
“We didn’t see any business slow down in 2020. In fact, it was a record year for us. 2021 is looking to be the same or even higher. Our managed IT and cybersecurity services are on track to be close to 15% higher than last year and our managed print will be around 30% higher than last year. We are steadily adding new clients and increasing our MRR, and could potentially even surpass these projections.
“Really our only current challenges are the significant labor shortage, which virtually all businesses are experiencing, and supply constraints of certain products. So far, we have been able to source the hardware needed by our customers, but we have had to offer different brands or models than we normally would have to meet our customers needs. We could increase our client base and MRR even further if we had additional staff.”
“We are growing rapidly, but I am concerned that we’ll need to put a hold on new clients unless we can successfully hire.
“We are also having trouble recruiting, as are many other MSPs – even when offering top pay.”
“What has fueled our growth is remote work. Many of our clients were not set up to work outside of the office. When the pandemic hit, we saw the need early on to work remotely so we proactively reached out to our clients to address concerns and propose remote solutions. This helped strengthen our relationship as technology business advisers and has since grown into offering security and cloud solutions.”
“There are a few things currently driving growth – cybersecurity insurance providers are starting to require businesses to follow certain guidelines, including getting MFA setup for email as well as other layers of security. This has resulted in current clients and new prospects contacting us to do assessments to identify these gaps and provide professional services to close the gaps that could keep them from being insured. Businesses are also experiencing a lot of personnel changes.
“Tenured employees are leaving for new opportunities, and new employees are being hired at a rate we have not seen in a long time. Some of these employees demand the flexibility to be able to work from anywhere, and that is creating new opportunities for us to work with businesses to change their infrastructure from on-premises to cloud-based, and to also provide better security for remote access.
“We also work with infosec and insurance companies to respond to cybersecurity breaches. Once we finish remediation, we are converting those clients into regular managed security services clients. We see a lot of opportunity to convert incident response work to proactive, long-term customers.”
“Our biggest business opportunity this year has been picking up new clients from IT companies that had to close as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as helping new clients with new business enquiries looking to invest in more cloud, security and remote working solutions. All as a result of being forced to work under lockdown for 18 months. We have also seen more new businesses pop up and we’re selling our managed services and IT projects to them. Many of which have had to do as a result of losing their employment during the pandemic. We are receiving a number of enquiries every week from potential clients looking to switch IT provider so again, there is movement there as well. We firmly believe that there will be a continued spike in new business and new businesses being created over the coming three to six months as we have now exited most COVID-19 restrictions and we in the U.K. have certainly seen an increase in enquiries during the last five months as well related to the freeing up of COVID-19 measures.
“I wouldn’t use the word growth for 2020/2021; I would use the word survival. The fact that we managed to retain almost all of our clients during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to how good we are at what we do. We helped a number of clients with their invoice payments when they had furloughed all of their staff, reducing costs where we could to help them with cash flow and also pausing project work until businesses were able to operationally afford to do so, as well as financially. The pandemic and the business knock-on effects reflect in the reduction of our turnover, growth and profit in 2020. Nonetheless, with only a 1.5% loss of gross profit from 2019 to 2020 shows how well we did to survive the pandemic. Our decisions to buckle down, continue with our marketing spend and provide exceptional BAU service to our clients with a help-first attitude consequently helped us ride the COVID-19 storm. We have almost come out of the other end already in a very stable position, financially and operationally. All of those clients we helped over the last 18 months have picked up their IT projects, completing more, operating as normal as possible and increasing their spending with us across our managed services, cloud and VoIP. Loyalty certainly pays dividends, which was our goal from the outset of the pandemic; take care of our clients and they’ll take care of us. And that’s exactly what’s happened. And with all of the new enquiries we’re now receiving because we never paused any marketing has again shown huge positive results over the last four months from making those tough financial decisions when the income was reducing from March 2020 onward.
“Again, COVID-19 related, the way businesses are working has fundamentally changed with the majority still working from home, having closed down their offices and not looking to reopen the physical locations or utilising a hybrid version. Fortunately for us, we have been in a position for many years offering cloud services, remote working solutions, virtual infrastructure, remote support and the IT consultancy around this. So business is certainly looking very positive indeed and we’re genuinely excited about the “boom” landscape over the next six to 12 months. Selling more of our remote working, cloud solutions and the IT consultancy around them to maximise how businesses will continue to work moving forward in order to survive through the remaining period of the pandemic.”
“Technology adoption among our customers is what’s driving our growth. For the last decade, at least in hospitality, technology has been a necessary evil. Due to the pandemic and their customers’ very fast-moving requirements that hospitality businesses implement technology to keep people safe and make their experience both quicker and easier, our customers are now begging for unified technologies. For the first time, we’re engaging SMB clients in consulting engagements to keep up with ‘the big boys.’
“Specifically, our voice, workforce, protect and POS products are the fastest-growing segments. Voice is growing because hospitality phones are ringing off the hook and traditional phone systems can’t handle the volume. Workforce is growing because hiring and scheduling are more important (and difficult) than ever. Protect is growing because as our customers add more and more technologies to their business, they need a network that can meet the demands. POS is growing because older software just can’t keep up with the technological shift that’s happening.”
“Currently our growth is driven by 2 main factors:
“1. The Great cloud migration. Lots of companies are giving away their physical offices or enabling easier hybrid working. A natural outcome is moving away from physical servers to cloud to improve accessibility and help reduce reliance on physical locations.
“2. Building resilience in the business operations. COVID-19 has further iterated the importance of ensuring all the business operations are modernized and up to the times. This has fueled demand around modernizing their operations and make them more technology-centric. Lots of our prospects are looking for consulting help on this front and we have helped them evaluate and implement best-in-class technology solutions including CRM implementation, modernizing their phone system, etc.”
“There are three drivers for us right now:
“1. The uncoiling spring of pent-up demand from last year’s delayed purchases, somewhat dulled by parts shortages.
“2. The move to hybrid working, with workspaces downsizing and workforces diversifying geographically.
“3. The slow but inevitable armoring of our client sites as they start to ‘get security’ after all these years.”
“There are three drivers for us right now:
“1. The uncoiling spring of pent-up demand from last year’s delayed purchases, somewhat dulled by parts shortages.
“2. The move to hybrid working, with workspaces downsizing and workforces diversifying geographically.
“3. The slow but inevitable armoring of our client sites as they start to ‘get security’ after all these years.”
This has been a year of flux. The challenges and opportunities partners are seeing underscore the continued evolution of the MSP industry post-pandemic. New business conversations center around security, digital transformation, hiring talent and hybrid working.
We asked our NextGen 101ers to share what is driving their growth, given the current landscape, pandemic recovery, challenges and opportunities they’re seeing and experiencing.
The NextGen 101 list honors industry-leading managed service and technology providers who are driving a new wave of growth and innovation for the tech channel via the groundbreaking solutions they deliver for their customers. Curious to see who our 2021 NextGen 101 winners are? Click here to view #101-#51, and here for #50-#1.
Check out our gallery above to see what our 101ers had to say.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Allison Francis or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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