Some Businesses Hesitant to Adopt Managed Services, Others Don't Trust MSPs for Security

The U.K. is slow to embrace managed services, according to a new MSP survey.

More than one-half (57%) of U.K. IT admins use MSPs to some extent within their IT program. However, this is 12% lower than the global average and 22% lower than U.S. respondents.

Despite this, 30% of U.K. IT admins reported that they are considering working with one, compared to 22% globally.

The research was conducted for the Q2 2023 SME IT Trends Report from open directory and device management platform provider, JumpCloud.

Managed Services: MSPs Not Trusted for Cybersecurity

One of the biggest takeaways is that organizations don’t trust MSPs when it comes to security.

The poll of IT admins in the U.K., U.S. and France shows 43% of U.K. respondents have concerns about how MSPs manage security, in line with 46% globally. However, this is 11% lower than U.S. respondents, where 54% reported concerns.

Both the U.S. and U.K. are introducing new regulations to ensure that MSPs aren’t used a point of attack for cybercriminals.

Of those not using MSPs, one-half of the U.K. respondents stated that they prefer to handle IT themselves. Yet the ability of MSPs to increase IT admins’ effectiveness at managing IT was the top-named result, highlighted by 53% of MSP users in the U.K. and 56% globally.

JumpCloud’s Dennis Dorval

Denis Dorval, VP international (EMEA & APAC), JumpCloud, said this means “U.K.-based admins are bearing responsibility for a greater proportion of routine tasks, in-house. This may be contributing to job dissatisfaction; it isn’t surprising that 30% of U.K. respondents are considering engaging an MSP.”

Cybersecurity Spending Cuts

The report shows that SMEs face significant turbulence in the macroeconomic environment. Instead of lockdowns and supply chain shortages, businesses are now dealing with layoffs and recession fears. This is on top of external threats growing in sophistication, regulatory and compliance pressures, and increasingly complex IT tool sprawl.

Forty-seven percent of U.K. IT admins are more worried about their organization’s security posture than they were six months ago. This is partly down to spending pressures, said the report.

Seventy-seven percent have seen IT budgets increase in the last year. Twelve percent said they had risen by more than 20%. In comparison globally, 80% have seen budgets rise and 13% have seen increases of 20% or more.

Fifty-seven percent expect their IT budgets to increase over the second half of 2023, below the global average of 64%. One in ten respondents expect a decrease, in line with 9% globally.

However, 34% expect cybersecurity spending will be cut in the next year, in line with 35% globally. This is despite 72% of U.K. respondents and 68% of global respondents predicting that security budget cuts will increase organisational risk.