Canalys: MSPs Most Worried About Automation

Partners are the most worried about how to automate and manage their projects, according to new data from research firm Canalys.

Canalys, part of Informa, Channel Futures' parent company, has released findings from a survey, "Managed services challenges in the channel in 2024 (registration required)," asking questions of 139 partners who answered via Candefero, its global channel community hub.

Sixty-one percent of respondents said the combination of project management and workflow automation is one of the biggest business operations challenges they face, followed by 58% who mentioned system integrations and API management.

When asked about their top three external challenges, more than one-half (54%) said that talent acquisition and retention was a leading issue for them. Evolving cybersecurity threats were also mentioned by 50%, and growing competition in the MSP marketplace was mentioned by 38%.

As for the top three most time-consuming areas of an MSP's operations, 56% mentioned human resources and team development. Back-office operations was mentioned by 44% and marketing was in the top three for 42%.

Canalys' Robin Ody

"This data validates what we know, and won't surprise anyone, but it is easy to see why vendors are still focusing on ways to ease these issues for MSPs," Robin Ody, principal analyst on the Canalys channels team, told Channel Futures. "It is vital that vendors continue to invest in people and headcount to help build better technical capabilities which are the basis of improved integrations and alliances among themselves, as well as improving the overall support and services experience of the MSPs that work with them," Ody added.

Canalys conducted its survey from May 2024 to June 2024 via an online questionnaire. Read the full report.