10 Findings from Channel Futures' MSP Quarterly Survey: Profit Outlook Positive Despite Macro Challenges

By James Anderson and Bob DeMarzo

Although supply chain challenges and other macroeconomic issues continue to rankle managed service provider (MSP) organizations, the majority of partners are forecasting sales and profit growth in 2023.

Channel Futures’ recent MSP Market Pulse and Channel Sentiment survey showed demonstrated the optimism – and pressures – many partners are feeling.

A wide disparity exists between how MSPs feel about the health of the U.S. economy and how they feel about their own businesses’ prospects. On one hand, geopolitical events like the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine continue to cause a ripple in the channel. Partners report that product shipping delays still hamper their businesses.

Canalys’ Jay McBain

Nevertheless, economic challenges haven’t shaken partners’ place as an indispensable resource for their customers. For example, 72% of MSPs reported good or excellent confidence in the health of their industry. The majority of MSP leaders also reported growth in their year-over-year profit. Strong gains in cybersecurity helped MSPs forget about some of the challenges they faced selling server hardware.

“A couple of years ago, I would have said this is a $200 billion market. It’s a solid, double-digit growing business. We’re in the right industry,” Canalys chief analyst Jay McBain told an MSP audience NerdioCon. “Software is eating the world; every other company in 27 industries is becoming a tech company. This is the right place to be this decade.”

Channel Futures compiled 10 key findings from the survey of 118 MSP leaders in the slideshow above.