9 Areas Managed Service Providers Should Focus On in 2023
Where are managed service providers setting their sights? We asked our roundtable partner participants to weigh in.
December 22, 2022
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Synetek Solutions’ Mayron Herrera: “The richest comes from the niches. For us, it’s focusing on those niche industries that not everybody realizes exist. Providers have the ability to really impact that, whatever the industry is. For example, we recently acquired a company that is a SaaS application for the industrial laundry industry. So, every hotel, every hospital, every medical facility, every restaurant… they all use that. It’s a $30 billion industry. Nobody knows it exists. But everybody uses it. So, in 2023, pay attention to the niches.”
Greystone’s Peter Melby: “The core of what we do evolves. For us, we focus on the client experience and user technology, which sounds really cliche, but it will be more important than ever next year. Over the course of time, we’ve talked about client experiences – how do they experience our services? But the pivot now has to be, how do they actually experience their workday, and what does that look like? What are we doing with the fact that, in two years, we had this acceleration of digital transformation? If you think about it, digital transformation hasn’t really occurred. But, the foundational items, moving to the cloud, for example, did accelerate, and that’s a huge advantage. We have to do something with that now. We have to figure out how to actually alter their workday based on the platforms and systems that they already have, and aren’t using.”
MSP Toolkit’s Len DiCostanzo: “It’s all about adopting that technology. My focus is to make sure that MSPs don’t just sell it and forget it – you have got to drive adoption, and actually use that technology. It’s always been an issue. Back when I was an MSP, I remember thinking “I don’t need to be trained.” It really is about driving adoption. That’s it.”
Synetek Solutions’ Nancy Henriquez: “It’s about the ancillary services when it comes to the products. It’s not just about the implementation project, but how do you then help the customer gain efficiencies with the different products, especially around managing and then driving that for them? For me, it’s beyond the adoption part of it, because that’s the initial part of it. It’s turning your mindset to how you’re going to continue to service them, as they’re adopting all of these different products.”
Meriplex’s Neil Medwed: “Smart companies specialize. The more sophisticated the buyer, those larger companies, they expect MSPs to understand their industry. Whether it’s for larger or smaller companies, this specialization is important. You can’t be general in your approach – be specific as far as your target markets. You have to invest in specialization, you have to understand the acronyms and the pain points that the end users have on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. And then, you must bring in the right talent that understands where they live and operate every day, and how we as technology solution providers can help them reduce risk, and increase productivity. So again, smart companies specialize.”
Moser Consulting’s Matt Wren: “Automation. We do a lot of business process management. That means really sitting down with everybody to understand what they do. Automation is one of the biggest buzzwords out there, so we figure out what we can automate – the things that they don’t want to do – so they can actually focus on cool projects. So, it’s really getting to understand what they’re doing day to day, and how we can transform them.”
HacWare’s Juan Fernandez: “As they start to pivot, MSPs really need to take that seat at the table. It’s sitting down and saying, “look, this is the way we’re going to do it.” It’s important to make it clear that it’s not being presented as an option, but as a go-forward mechanism. Customers want you to help them operate their business from a tech perspective. When you present it that way, you essentially remove the friction. You take the conversation from, say, the point of cost, to how to operate the business for their benefit, focused on their outcome. It’s interesting to see the evolution here. We’re not doing anything different, really, we’re just packaging it differently with all that value in it. So it will be really interesting to watch, as everything evolves into the different go-to-market strategies.”
Moser Consulting’s Casey Martin: “I think it’s really important to be a trusted advisor. Customers are going to cut checks regardless – it could go to you, it could go to someone else. Wherever they see the value, money is never a problem. So, being that trusted advisor is important. It means two things. It’s telling them, “this is my specialty, this what I’m good at,” but it’s also referring them to others when they need something you’re not necessarily good at. That’s being a good partner.”
Meriplex’s Neil Medwed: “Partnering. I think that’s going to become more and more paramount. I think some companies have the tendency to “island” themselves – perhaps they don’t feel confident and comfortable enough to share their issues. That’s the beauty of peer groups. These groups allow you the access to deep knowledge, often unfiltered. If you hope to obtain any sort of maturity within your business, you have to learn to sometimes rely on others’ expertise. There’s all kinds of partnering opportunities out there.”
Stronghold Data’s Jason Rincker: “In a (potential) recessionary environment, some people thrive and some people don’t. It comes down to knowing your customer, pure and simple. That client experience – if you can pinpoint the ones that may struggle in such an environment, those are different conversations than with the industry verticals that are going to thrive. Things are going to shift, and you just have to be prepared to have those different conversations. Again, it comes back to truly knowing your customers.”
From right to left:
Casey Martin, senior business development manager, Moser Consulting.
Matt Wren, vice president of business development, Moser Consulting.
Mayron Herrera, founder and CEO, Synetek Solutions.
Peter Melby, CEO, Greystone Technology.
Nancy Henriquez, vice president of sales and marketing, Synetek Solutions.
Jason Rincker, sales director, Stronghold Data.
Len DiCostanzo, CEO, MSP Toolkit.
Neil Medwed, vice president of corporate development and M&A, Meriplex.
Juan Fernandez, Global Channel Chief, HacWare.
From right to left:
Casey Martin, senior business development manager, Moser Consulting.
Matt Wren, vice president of business development, Moser Consulting.
Mayron Herrera, founder and CEO, Synetek Solutions.
Peter Melby, CEO, Greystone Technology.
Nancy Henriquez, vice president of sales and marketing, Synetek Solutions.
Jason Rincker, sales director, Stronghold Data.
Len DiCostanzo, CEO, MSP Toolkit.
Neil Medwed, vice president of corporate development and M&A, Meriplex.
Juan Fernandez, Global Channel Chief, HacWare.
2023 is officially upon us. It’s no longer “just around the corner” or a distant thought as you mentally curse the holiday music blaring over the speakers at Target. It is here. It has arrived. Get your confetti ready.
As providers ponder the… interesting year that was 2022, there are many things to consider heading into the new one. Indeed, 2023 promises to continue to see several trends that are disrupting the managed services sector.
Managed Services in 2023
So, as managed services pivots in terms of new products, services and offerings, where are MSPs setting their sights?
MSPs need to be ready for growth, that’s for certain. Digital transformation is the name of the game, as is gaining and maintaining the talent to support and maintain technology infrastructures. But that’s not all.
Roundtable Partners Weigh In
In September, Channel Futures held a series of roundtables in Orlando, Florida, at the Channel Partners Leadership Summit and MSP Summit.. The roundtable involved leaders in the channel and covered a range of topics, specifically focused on MSPs.
The MSP Roundtable participants were:
Casey Martin, senior business development manager, Moser Consulting.
Matt Wren, vice president of business development, Moser Consulting.
Mayron Herrera, founder and CEO, Synetek Solutions.
Nancy Henriquez, vice president of sales and marketing, Synetek Solutions.
Peter Melby, CEO, Greystone Technology.
Jason Rincker, sales director, Stronghold Data.
Len DiCostanzo, CEO, MSP Toolkit.
Neil Medwed, vice president of corporate development and M&A, Meriplex.
Juan Fernandez, Global Channel Chief, HacWare.
Moser Consulting’s Casey Martin
Moser Consulting’s Matt Wren
Synetek Solutions’ Mayron Herrera
Synetek Solutions’ Nancy Henriquez
Greystone Technology’s Peter Melby
Stronghold Data’s Jason Rincker
MSP Toolkit’s Len DiCostanzo
Meriplex’s Neil Medwed
HacWare’s Juan Fernandez
See our slideshow above to find out what participants had to say about where MSPs will be focused in the coming year.
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