Grand View Research wrote earlier this year: “Most companies are already renewing their contracts with managed cloud service providers in anticipation of cloud migration getting more common among enterprises, and in some cases, even gaining traction. Furthermore, businesses and organizations are putting a strong emphasis on adopting the latest technologies, such as machine learning and augmented reality, along with their existing IT infrastructure as part of the efforts to encourage digital transformation.
“Adoption of the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud management, and others is eventually helping organizations meet various functional business requirements while driving business process optimization. Managed services deliver effective functionalities at minimal costs without compromising on quality. Additionally, managed services also support and ensure the reliability and consistency of services offered for various business processes.”
With all the new technologies coming out, especially in the cloud-first world, what should leaders of MSPs pay attention to as we turn the corner into 2023?
We caught up with Scott Chasin, Chief Technology Officer at Pax8, a growing cloud marketplace bringing together MSPs and technology developers and providers. We asked for his take on how advanced software, from AI to automation, augmented reality and IoT, can enhance the growth of MSPs by bringing their customers additional value.
“The two managed service offerings with the most traction this year have been cloud and cloud managed network services, and one of the most important trends we’ve seen is the desire to adopt hybrid and multi-cloud options for reasons including the need for greater performance while also controlling cloud spend,” Chasin said. “We are scouting cloud optimization automation providers and platforms, given the complexity that could come with multi-cloud environments. MSPs have benefitted greatly from the growth of cloud infrastructure and everything-as-a-service applications, and now that they have settled in, can pivot to understanding how to operate more efficiently and profitably in mixed environments.”
Chasin also sees growth opportunities for MSPs in providing migration, configuration, optimization, cyber security, and overall business transformation projects, as SMBs and enterprises become increasingly aware of the need to compete with digital services and experiences for their customers.
“Not everything will move to the public cloud, and MSPs will continue to prosper by managing their customers’ hardware, routers, switches, and networking software that runs their private, internal networks and connects them to the public cloud,” Chasin said. “By instrumenting hybrid models, MSPs can see where there may be opportunities to move more to a variety of clouds and, most importantly, to use the cloud itself to monitor and manage the premise infrastructure they are responsible for. By implementing remote management, MSPs can conserve money by avoiding or eliminating truck rolls, for example, and can start to compete in a more modern field service industry.”
Chasin noted that delivering managed services isn’t easy, and MSPs need the right tools in place to manage everything with process automation.
“Cybersecurity is a great example of a function ripe for more automation and AI. The more digital transformation, the more important it is to safeguard data from various online attacks or unauthorized access,” he explained. “AI has already been paramount this year in building automated security systems, natural language processing, face detection, and automatic threat detection, among others, but in 2023 we’ll see smarter systems that can predict new attacks and notify admins in real time.”
Chasin also suggests MSPs take a hard look at the amount of data they are responsible for managing, saying, “AI and automation will enable MSPs more sophisticated control over the information they collect, analyze and secure for their customers. And with nearly half of cyberattacks initiated by insiders within businesses or government agencies, MSPs can help address this by ensuring their teams are professional, experienced, and trustworthy, with the appropriate oversight and sensitivity to compliance issues in areas including healthcare, retail, and financial services.”
Automation may be challenging for MSPs, but with the right technology choices, plus training and education, Chasin believes that “delivering on the promise of predictable, secure, and intelligent services will pay off for those MSPs who are aiming for the fences. Automation within MSPs is making a huge difference, including the platform we provide, which is integrated with many of the world’s best PSA systems. We are taking the friction out of the discovery, procurement, provisioning, and billing for the services MSPs buy from our marketplace. This leads to a better admin experience within MSPs and simpler invoices and insights into how investments in software-as-a-service applications and virtualized infrastructure are specifically paying off.”
MSPs are competing in a growing but challenging market for managed IT services.
“While customers are prepared to spend more money for the right services, their needs are growing increasingly complex along with their IT environments,” he said. “Smarter software, AI, automation, RPA, and APIs between systems, to name a few, can help prepare MSPs for responsible growth by allowing them to scale up – by allowing them to benefit from some of the most exciting solutions we’ve seen at Pax8.”
Edited by
Erik Linask
