What is PSA?

Introduction: Defining PSA

Professional Services Automation (PSA) refers to the use of IT by businesses in the professional services industry to automate routine processes and perform data-driven workflow management. The purpose of PSA is to allow service-oriented businesses to operate more efficiently and profitably. PSA helps businesses achieve these aims in a variety of ways, including:

• Service Delivery Optimization
• Intelligent Resource Allocation
• Automation of Administrative Tasks
• Task Tracking for Improved Contract Management and Customer Experience (CX)
• Data-Driven Business Insights

This article provides an overview of PSA’s core features as well as some of the more advanced facilities that modern PSA software boasts. We will be focusing on PSA’s utility for Managed Service Provider (MSP) businesses.

Why PSA is Important for Your MSP

An important tool for any kind of IT provider, PSA is especially crucial for MSPs. The modern MSP has many moving parts, and in today’s competitive IT industry, to be successful as an MSP you must develop systematic and scalable approaches to service delivery. Without such approaches, a growing MSP will have trouble staying organized and, in turn, making customers happy.

PSA is a pivotal component of a mature MSP’s operations as it furnishes MSPs with a single data set, or single source of truth (SSOT), which offers a “bird’s-eye view” of operations, and in turn, allows for holistic optimization of key business processes. If you want your business to be efficient and scalable, the place to start is with your PSA.

A good PSA will connect your front and back office, and refine workflows so that your entire MSP functions as a cohesive unit. If your employees are the “backbone” of your business, your PSA is the “nervous system,” responsible for maintaining the flow of business-critical information throughout your entire company.

The question is not whether MSPs need a robust PSA system, but what kind. The right PSA solution can elevate your MSP by bringing increased efficiency and business intelligence (BI) to practically every area of your operations.

Let’s take a closer look at the key features of good PSA software and how these features contribute to an MSP’s overall health as a business.

Key Features of PSA Software

Modern PSA software has evolved far beyond the management of help desk functions. The right PSA solution doesn’t just improve the way your technicians carry out projects and handle tickets, it also enhances the strategic side of your organization by yielding insights into what is — and isn’t — maximizing overall profitability. Adding an effective PSA tool to your MSP is almost like hiring another member of management, in that it bolsters your company’s capacity to plan for the future and adapt to changing circumstances in real-time.

PSA benefits service businesses in many ways. It can be helpful and clarifying to sort these benefits into three categories:

1. Client-Facing
2. Internal Operations
3. Business Strategy

Let’s go over each of these categories in turn.

Client-Facing

An MSP is a service business first, and an IT business second. What does this mean? It means that successful, industry-leading MSPs got to where they are by thinking about the customer. It is through the lens of customer satisfaction that you need to analyze your delivery service. PSA gives you that lens.

PSA impacts client-facing activities most directly through the help desk, where automation can enhance the service delivery capacities of your team of technicians by taking routine tasks off of their plate.

PSA optimizes your MSP’s service delivery at four levels: basic automation, resource allocation, information management, and strategic oversight.

Basic Automation

Basic automation refers to PSA’s capacity to take care of simple business tasks without manual intervention. It represents one of the core purposes of PSA, and it is arguably PSA’s single-most important feature.

With PSA software, your MSP can draw on automation to clear space in your technicians’ schedules for higher-priority, higher-value projects. This alone can lift the quality of your service delivery by significant and quantifiable amounts.

Resource Allocation

The second way PSA improves your MSP’s service delivery is by allocating resources in accordance with real-time demands. In plain English, the right software enables your MSP to put the right techs on the right jobs at the right time.

Certain software allows managers to split, combine, and elevate tickets based on performance metrics that provide real-time access to technicians’ progress. Too many techs on a ticket? Not enough? The wrong techs? Let PSA answer these questions for you, so you can focus on building your business.

Information Management

A third way that PSA enhances customer-facing operations is by giving MSPs a centralized location for customer data. PSA solutions with a built-in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool allow you to maintain account profiles on all of your clients as well as detailed records of customer interactions. This repository of information, organized by your PSA tool, allows you and your managers to monitor the health of your client relationships.

PSA’s usefulness as an information management tool extends to customer experience (CX); in addition to providing your team with customer information, PSA gives your customers real-time access to the status of their service requests. Customers who know what’s going on are happier — as well as less likely to call into the help desk and tie up technicians with questions and concerns.

Strategic Oversight

An MSP’s customer-facing activities reflect its internal relationships — the health of its teams. Excellent service delivery begins with transparency; managers need to have a clear view of ticketing progress — or lack thereof! Ensuring that customers’ expectations are being met and contracts honored requires good data.

This brings us to the fourth way in which PSA optimizes service delivery: good PSA software scrapes together all the data you and your project managers need to make informed decisions and puts it all in one convenient dashboard. Managers who know what their teams are doing — and teams that know they are being held accountable — will do their jobs better. It’s that simple.

To summarize, a good PSA tool allows you to inject efficiency into practically every facet of your support desk. With the right PSA solution, your MSP can allocate resources more intelligently to meet real-time capacity limitations and customer demands, view customer information through a single pane of glass to maintain healthy client relationships, and achieve better service delivery through automation and a culture of transparency and accountability.

Internal Operations

Administrative tasks can eat up a lot of time and resources when they’re not performed efficiently. PSA allows growing businesses to automate large portions of admin work, and in turn, achieve much greater operational efficiency. Billing and financial activities in particular become much easier with the right software solutions.

Timesheets might be mundane, but they’re important. You want to be paid for the work you do in a timely fashion, with minimal disputes and hassles. With PSA, you can streamline the entire process of time tracking. Instead of wasting hours each week puzzling out billable activities, you can let PSA capture all of your billable items and feed them into a centralized location — a dashboard that provides you with a snapshot of your organization’s financial activities. Contracts, client revenue, invoicing deadlines — when everything is in one place, you can spend less time figuring out what you need to do, and more time doing it.

Certain PSA tools also offer integration with popular accounting software. When your PSA and accounting software are linked by automation, financial records are far less likely to be lost and your business is far less likely to overlook billable activities.

Like many improvements that PSA brings, the benefits of enlisting automation for billing show up most clearly at the level of customer support. When your financial processes are smooth and transparent, backed up by clear resource logging and time tracking, you will experience fewer disputes with clients over billing. This is of course good for its own sake, but also, it means more time to grow your business; the less time you’re arguing with clients, the more time you can devote to attracting new ones.

Business Strategy

PSA has evolved from an automation tool into a sophisticated engine for analytics and business strategy. Modern PSA software not only streamlines the operations of service-oriented businesses, but assists with strategic activities such as forecasting, bidding, and profitability analysis.

PSA can’t make big business decisions for you, but it can focus your priorities, narrow down your options, and give you the data you need to make rational choices about the direction you take your company.

We have already discussed how PSA optimizes help desk activities by allocating resources in real time — by putting the right techs on the right jobs. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the BI that gets built into modern PSA software.

The right PSA tool can allow your MSP to engage in more data-driven, intelligent bidding, and some PSA software can help client managers identify potential business opportunities or upsells with existing clients.

PSA can also give you a precise idea of what your company’s capacity will be multiple months into the future, which allows for more strategic planning. Human beings are highly fallible when it comes to estimating how much can be accomplished in a given timeframe. PSA allows MSPs and other service businesses to take on the right amount of work — neither too much, nor too little — which translates to superior service delivery and greater customer satisfaction.

This is just an introduction to some of the ways in which PSA can yield global insights into your company’s operations, but it should be clear that PSA is more than automation; it’s a suite of tools and features that collectively allow for greater strategic insights and business agility.

How to Choose the Right PSA Tool for Your Business

MSPs need a PSA solution to compete in today’s market, but not all solutions are created equal. Picking the right tool for your MSP is critical, and it’s important that you do your research. Whether you’re adding PSA for the first time, or considering a transition from one tool to another, asking these three questions can help you make the right choice for your business.

Does the PSA tool you’re considering offer useful integrations?

As important as your PSA tool is to your business, it’s one of many tools, and it’s vital to your MSP’s success that your various technology solutions are all knitted together tightly.

At the absolute least, you want a PSA solution that integrates with your Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tool. When PSA and RMM are able to “talk to” each other, your MSP will function much more smoothly.

Before selecting a PSA tool, consider the integrations it offers. Modern PSA software can integrate with accounting and billing tools, CRM software, documentation platforms, and more. And, when assessing the integrative capacities of a particular tool, keep your business’s specific needs firmly in mind; instead of buying more for a flashy tool with integrations you don’t need, opt for a simpler tool that will easily harmonize with your MSP’s IT environment.

Does the PSA tool you’re considering serve your MSP’s specific needs?

Your MSP is unique, and it’s important to remember that the PSA that’s best for your MSP is the one that best helps you run your business the way you want.

Instead of getting distracted by the ‘bells and whistles’ that a particular PSA solution comes with, start with the question: What do I want most out of a PSA tool? When your own priorities are clear, it’s much easier to assess the relative merits of different solutions.

Is it easy to use?

When shopping around for a new PSA tool for your business, don’t lose sight of one simple truth: A PSA tool is only as useful as it is easy-to-use. It doesn’t matter how great a solution sounds ‘in theory’ if your employees don’t end up embracing it and using it consistently.

This means it’s important, when comparing different PSA tools, to take different solutions for ‘test drives.’ You can’t get a feel for a particular tool’s interface — how easy it is to use — until you actually use it. A lot of PSA tools on today’s market offer free trials, so take advantage!

Kaseya BMS: A PSA Tool Built for MSPs

MSPs that struggle with growth are often bogged down by operational inefficiencies. These inefficiencies generally stem from inadequate integrations between departments, functions, and people. Information gets lost and workflows interrupted when your MSP doesn’t function smoothly as a whole.

Kaseya Business Management Solution (BMS) is a PSA platform specifically designed to help MSPs achieve operational harmony without a large front-end investment. Its scalable, cloud-based architecture allows growing MSPs to implement cost-effective solutions for all of their core functions. BMS includes everything you want from modern PSA software, at about one third the price of competing solutions. Learn more!

Choosing the right PSA tool for your MSP is a big decision. The 20 is a group of MSPs who work together to conquer the ‘business side’ of IT. With The 20 at your back, you can implement big changes at your MSP with a community of experts to guide you through the transition. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help.

Meet Andrew Sellers, Senior Tier 2 Support Desk Technician!

Andrew Sellers quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Andrew.

What do you do here at The 20?

Senior Tier 2 Support Desk Technician

Describe The 20 in three words…

Accountable. Driven. Excellence.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

A doctor.

What’s the most challenging thing about your job? 

Communications that are inclusive for everyone and easy for everyone to understand

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

Paying off my house and being debt free and not needing to work

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success? 

Winning Together. It starts with the tickets having all the needed questions answered (Who, What, When, Why, How, and Where). Then putting that information together to formulate a hypothesis that testing will lead to a solution. Success in this requires the entire team.

What do you like most about The 20? 

My fellow coworkers bring everything to the table and we really come together as a team.

What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies? 

Rock Climbing, Hiking, Disc Golf, Board Games, Magic The Gathering, and woodworking.

Where are you going on your next vacation?

 Not sure. Scotland, or a beach. Not sure which is coming first.

What’s your top life hack?

Interested in working with Andrew at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.

VISION ’21 Keynote Speaker Spotlight

Nick Vujicic and the Unbelievable Power of Choice

Life is unpredictable and full of curve balls. We booked Maye Musk as our keynote speaker for VISION ’21, but due to unforeseen circumstances, she was unable to make it to the event. We needed a replacement, and we needed one FAST …

So we put our heads together, and landed a remarkable man by the name of Nick Vujicic. And ‘remarkable’ is an understatement; since Nick delivered his powerful keynote on Thursday of last week, we’ve been flooded with positive feedback — people can’t stop talking about the profound impact Nick had on them. There’s no doubt in our minds that lives were changed.

We want to highlight Nick’s message and share his story with our community of MSPs, business owners, IT pros, and everyone else who reads our blog. The more people that hear about Nick’s approach to living a happy, successful, and fulfilling life, the better!

Who is Nick Vujicic?

Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1982. His parents were shocked to discover that their newborn son lacked both arms and legs. Nick was born with an extremely rare disorder called tetra-amelia syndrome, which is characterized by the absence of limbs. His mom and dad knew life wouldn’t be easy for their son, and this scared them, as it would any parents.

And life wasn’t easy for young Nick. Kids can be cruel, and at school, Nick got called “freak” and “alien.” He did his best to fit in, refusing to let his condition keep him on the sidelines. He swam, he skateboarded, he made friends. But growing up is hard for anyone, and with the unique challenges that Nick faced, he eventually “hit a wall.” As he shares in his book, Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life, “I was depressed, overwhelmed with negative thoughts, and didn’t see any point in my life.” Things got so bad he thought about suicide.

How did he get from there to where he is now? How did the depressed adolescent become the loving husband and father of four, the successful entrepreneur, the life-changing motivational speaker?

He discovered the power of choice. Our lives are our own to shape. As Nick himself puts it, “We can choose to dwell on disappointments and shortcomings … Or when faced with hard times and hurtful people, we can choose to learn from the experience and move forward, taking responsibility for our own happiness.”

At VISION ’21, we were lucky enough to hear Nick unpack his worldview in detail. He gave us six points to live by — six principles we can all follow to take control of our lives and make the world a better place …

Six Points to Live By: Nick Vujicic’s Secrets for Success and Fulfillment

Point #1: Process Your Emotions

At VISION ’21, Nick reminded all of us that it’s OK to feel bad sometimes. In fact, feeling bad can be a good thing, as there are insights, power, and wisdom that can be ‘extracted’ from our darker moods. Take anger, for instance. If we’re not careful, anger can make us yell at people, act aggressively, etc. But if we are mindful, we can choose to leverage our anger for good. Anger can make us braver and more honest in the workplace, for instance. So don’t feel bad about feeling bad, but commit to using your negative emotions to bring about positive changes.

Point#2: Have an “Attitude of Gratitude”

Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions there is, because it not only lets us appreciate what’s good in our lives, it also prevents us from sinking too low during difficult times. If you can embrace the following idea, you’ll experience immeasurably more joy in your life: Gratitude is not a reaction, but an action. Grateful people aren’t those who have more good things happen to them; grateful people are those who’ve made a choice — or many choices — to focus on what’s good, even in situations where the ‘good’ is a needle in a haystack of bad. You can start cultivating your own gratitude today — this very moment! If the ‘big things’ in your life aren’t going well, start with the small things. You can breathe. You’re alive. You have the ability to make choices. That right there is enough to build the foundation for your attitude of gratitude.

Point #3: Reset Your Goals

Resetting goals can mean adopting new ones. But ‘resetting goals’ has a deeper, subtler meaning that Nick Vujicic clarified at VISION ’21: Resetting your goals can mean reassessing how you’re going about pursuing what you want to achieve. Think about whether your current habits are conducive to getting where you want to go in business and in life. If they’re not, it’s time to build some new habits!

During his keynote, Nick described a habit as a “forceful decision that doesn’t feel good at the beginning.” This reminds us of something vitally important about chasing goals: sometimes you need to change yourself before you can accomplish what you most desire, and doing that requires that you go through some discomfort. Change is hard, but stay strong, because it’s like Nick said at VISION: “You never just go through things. You grow through things.”

Point #4: Dream BIG!

Don’t let “dreaming” be something you only do at night when you’re fast asleep in your bed. Nick recommends setting aside at least half an hour each week for dreaming. Step away from your day-to-day responsibilities and let your biggest, boldest hopes come to the surface. Take your own dreams seriously. This means making concrete plans. Break your dream(s) down into smaller tasks, and get STARTED. If you want to write a book, commit to writing a page a week. If you don’t prioritize your dreams and manage your time accordingly, you’ll spend your whole life wondering what you could’ve done.

Point #5: Obstacles = Opportunities

In Life Without Limits, Nick writes, “I’m officially disabled, but I’m truly enabled because of my lack of limbs.” He means it, too. It was his condition that drove him to become a motivational speaker and coach, and those decisions have allowed him to touch the hearts and minds of millions.

Nick’s success didn’t come overnight, and as he reminded us at VISION ’21, he failed many, many times. In fact, when he first started out and was making cold calls to book speaking gigs, he was told “No” so many times, when he finally did get a “Yes,” he almost didn’t register the response! Bottom line, failing doesn’t make you a failure; in fact, winners fail more than anyone else because winners get out there and TRY. Business owners take heed! You will fail, and it probably won’t feel good, but remember — there is value to be found in negative emotions. So let “failure be your classroom”!

Point #6: When You Don’t Get a Miracle, BE a Miracle!

Nick shared a moving story at VISION ’21 about meeting a boy who was also born without limbs. As luck would have it, Nick’s own mom and dad were there, too. The two families had lots to discuss! Now, although Nick and his parents never had the good fortune to meet with a family in their circumstances during Nick’s upbringing, they were more than happy to be that family for this young boy and his parents.

The lesson is simple: instead of always focusing on what the world is giving (or not giving) you, turn your attention and energy to what you can give the world. And yes, this applies to entrepreneurs, too. It applies especially well, in fact! Successful businesses identify customer needs and problems and offer solutions that make people’s lives easier, better, etc. Stop thinking about your profits all the time, and start thinking about your service. If you can do that — if you can truly inhabit the mindset of a giver — you’ll be amazed by how everything else falls into place.

A Final Thought

Curve balls happen. But sometimes, it’s for the best. Sometimes, the person you found in a time crunch — the person no one in the audience was expecting to see up on stage — faces the curve ball, takes a swing, and knocks it out the park.

Do you know what will happen in the coming year? Do you know how much your business will grow? How many new clients you’ll take on? You don’t. But you do know this much: you have the power to choose action over fear, hope over despair, and compassion over resentment. If you embrace that power, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.

VISION ’21 Recap — The Year of the Return

Each year, The 20 puts on an IT conference to help growth-minded Managed Service Providers (MSPs) achieve business breakthroughs, key into industry trends, and get ahead of the competition. After hosting a virtual conference in 2020, The 20 returned this year with a live event, VISION ’21.

The theme of VISION ’21, which took place last week in Arlington, TX, was “The Year of the Return.” After a turbulent 2020, we here at The 20 were determined to give IT business owners an opportunity to reignite their passion, renew their optimism, and reconnect with our awesome community. The result was an incredible conference that still has us feeling fired up!

Here’s a recap of what went down at VISION ’21. If you were in attendance, we hope the following brings back good memories and helps you consolidate some of the information you absorbed at the event. And if you weren’t in attendance, all we can say is …

There’s always next year!

Venue — Live! by Loews

We would be remiss to do a recap of VISION ’21 without talking about the venue, because Live! by Loews offered a spectacular setting for this year’s event. The stylish resort destination is right next to the Cowboys and Rangers stadiums. And we do mean right next to. At the cocktail welcome reception, attendees enjoyed a clear view of AT&T Stadium out on the hotel’s gorgeous event lawn, and were treated to the country-fried rock of The Buffalo Ruckus (shout out to The 20’s very own Jerrod Ford on the drums!). We couldn’t have scripted a more perfect evening or a better way to kick off the event.

Throughout the entire conference, the Live! by Loews team made us feel welcome with their consummate professionalism and warm, Texas hospitality. Delicious food, stunning views, top-notch event spaces — Live! by Loews came through on all fronts. We’re lucky to have such a terrific venue in our own backyard!

Main Stage Sessions

MSPs come to VISION because they want to get better: operate more efficiently, profitably, and in ways that are scalable. You can’t do any of those things without knowledge, and the main stage sessions at VISION ’21 provided attendees with more knowledge than can possibly be summarized in a couple paragraphs. The best we can do is give a few highlights …

Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20, gave multiple sessions that were chock-full of wisdom for growing MSPs. The 20’s dynamic approach to MSP growth, founded on the idea that a successful company is always thinking about ‘what’s next,’ starts with Conkle, whose decades of experience in the IT industry and entrepreneurial brilliance give him unique insights into our industry — where it’s at, and more importantly, where it’s going to be. At VISION ’21, Conkle’s focus was squarely on the future — automation, standardization, sales cadence, and of course, how our MSP members can continue to leverage The 20’s revolutionary model to make huge gains in the next few years.

Another member of The 20 team, recent COO hire, Ken Pecot, spoke on how MSPs can utilize KPIs to inject efficiency into their operations and foster a culture of accountability among their employees. Pecot’s perspective has the potential to help The 20 reach new heights in the coming year, and hearing him lay out his ideas was an exciting preview of what’s in store for The 20 and its community of MSP members. Change is coming, and with it, the chance for further growth!

Two excellent panel discussions took place at VISION ’21: Cybersecurity Panel: The Optimal Stack, (moderated by Rob Boles; featuring Ken Nix, Mike Tarango, Chuck Everette, and Ed Murphy), and The MSP Marketing Equation (moderated by The 20’s CMO, Crystal McFerran; featuring Dana Liedholm, Andra Hedden, and Emalee Sugano). Cybersecurity and marketing are two of the hottest topics in the MSP world, and with good reason — MSPs that want to flourish over the next several years need to get serious about both. VISION ’21 brought together experts on these two crucial topics and the resulting conversations were truly edifying. A big thanks to all of the panel members for generously sharing their knowledge and insights with us.

The 20 MSP Members Only Day

The third day of VISION ’21 was for The 20’s MSP members only. These Friday sessions covered cybersecurity, service delivery, and “Where We’re Headed — Rocks for 2022.” Members also participated in a panel discussion led by The 20’s Platoon Leaders: Ciera Cole, Jeff Griffin, Crystal McFerran, and Ken Pecot. It was great to see our MSP family really hunker down and sort out the nuts and bolts of what we’re trying to do, which is of course — grow like crazy and dominate the industry! The free-flowing discussion and open exchange of ideas signal that all is well at The 20. A huge shout-out to our MSP members — your enthusiastic participation and commitment to getting better every single day are what motivate us to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the MSP space.

Breakout Sessions

VISION ’21 featured eight breakout sessions led by industry experts from Egnyte, Huntress, MSP360, BLOKWORX, Crayon, Marketopia, Privatise, and N-able. These sessions provided attendees with the opportunity to delve more deeply into key topics, and collaboratively tackle problems that MSPs are currently facing. When you think about it, breakout sessions embody an idea that lies at the very heart of The 20: Our industry moves quickly, and staying current means staying connected — to your business, to your employees, and to your community of peers. Thanks to our sponsors and participants for making the breakout meetings a big success!

Keynote Speaker — Nick Vujicic

Last week at VISION ’21, a man who was born without arms or legs, who endured constant bullying in his youth, who overcame extreme feelings of isolation and loneliness to become a world-renowned motivational speaker, bestselling author, and successful entrepreneur — that man took the main stage and BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE. His humor, earnestness, candor, and indomitable spirit filled the room. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He taught us about the power of the “attitude of gratitude,” and other tools for leading a successful and happy life. We are all better people for having heard this man speak. Thanks for inspiring all of us, Nick. Your keynote was truly life-changing.

VISION Party

There are parties, and then there are parties hosted by The 20. There are cover bands, and then there’s Emerald City Band. There’s having fun, and then there’s — you get the picture. The VISION Party was a night to remember, and we want to thank all of you for being so much fun — and for dispelling any doubts about the dancing skills of folks in the IT world. We’re already looking forward to next year!

Wrap-Up

We came. We learned. And we will conquer! The next year could be a big one for MSPs looking to grow and scale. VISION ’21 was for you, the IT business owner who isn’t happy settling for mediocrity. We hope the event equipped you with the knowledge and resources to make a big push in the coming year. Thank you to all who participated in VISION ’21 — attendees, speakers, sponsors, staff. VISION is VISION because of you.

Meet Robert Ryle, Core Services Technician!

Robert Ryle quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Robert.

What do you do here at The 20?

I am the Ops Technician.

Describe The 20 in three words…

Fast-Paced, Collaborative, and Challenging.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

The planet Pluto, but we all have to grow up.

What’s the most challenging thing about your job? 

Often times, customer needs require us to pivot quickly to address multiple concerns that may not have an immediate root cause. These are the times when collaboration within the company is most valuable.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

When I joined The 20, I had next to no experience in the field. Expanding my knowledge to include new methods, languages, and processes have been key parts in my growth both with the company and personally.

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success? 

Accountability.

What do you like most about The 20? 

Definitely the people.

What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies? 

Disc Golf, Basketball, Guitar

Where are you going on your next vacation?

Camping trip!

What’s your top life hack?

Interested in working with Robert at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.

VISION ’21: What a Speaker Lineup!

This year’s VISION conference is packed with top-notch content to help your MSP grow and scale faster than the competition. The speaker lineup alone is worth attending for! The sessions will cover a variety of topics — from cybersecurity to sales to KPIs — but the unifying theme is something that The 20 takes very seriously: looking ahead to see what MSPs need to be doing now to ensure their success in the future.

As a business owner, being successful means outsmarting the competition, and a big part of ‘outsmarting the competition’ is seeing further than the next MSP — knowing what’s ‘around the corner’ so you can best position your business for success.

So, come to VISION ’21 and improve YOUR vision with thought leadership from the best in the business. Here’s a preview of the speaker lineup. Which session is going to have the biggest impact on your MSP?

Maye Musk: Keynote!

Session Title: Living Dangerously — Carefully

Maye Musk, a role model, trend-maker and rule-changer with a fascinating family is set to deliver a keynote address on September 30th at VISION ’21. Maye is a respected dietitian who gives talks all over the world about health, nutrition, business, and aging. But things were not always so easy or glamorous.

She became a single mom at thirty-one years old, struggling through poverty to provide for her three children. She also dealt with weight issues as a plus-size model and overcame ageism in the modeling industry (in 2017, Maye became CoverGirl’s oldest spokesmodel).

Undeterred by these difficulties, Maye still managed to earn two master’s degrees and establish a lifelong career as a dietitian, despite having to start over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. She made her way through it all with an indomitable spirit and a no-nonsense attitude to become a global success at what she calls the prime of her life. Her book, A Woman Makes a Plan, has been published by Penguin Random House in the USA and Canada. It is an international best-seller in over 70 countries, with more to come!

At VISION ’21, Maye will share her story, giving us a glimpse into the mind of one of the most resilient people on the face of the planet.

Tim Conkle – The 20

Session Titles:

• The Year of the Return
• Marketing Automation: The Long Game for Sustained Growth
• MSP Growth is Easy as A-B-C (Always Be Changing)
• The Future-Proof MSP

Tim Conkle holds over 30 years of entrepreneurial success in the Information Technology and Services sector. As a leading voice in the Managed IT Service Provider space, Tim is dedicated to developing simple, solid IT solutions for SMB clients and MSPs (Managed Service Providers) across the nation. His notoriously energetic nature, along with his deep-rooted passion for technology, has helped him forge solid customer relationships built on trust, dependability, and service. Tim currently serves as President & CEO of Roland Technology, President of the Board of Directors for Cytracom, and is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

At VISION ’21, Tim will speak on a variety of topics pertinent to your MSP’s growth, but you can always expect two things from a Tim Conkle talk: to learn a lot and to be wildly entertained in the process!

Alex Kloeti – HubSpot

Session Title: Driving Digital Growth Through Outstanding Customer Journeys

Alex Kloeti is a rising business and technology leader focused on impact through growth, and currently a key player in HubSpot’s business development organization. Since graduating from McGill University in Economics and Computer Science, Alex has facilitated growth operations across both the consulting and software industries, at companies ranging from three employees to 3,000. Alex is a Stowe, Vermont native currently living in Boston, Massachusetts.

At VISION ’21, Alex will dazzle us with his forward-thinking ideas about growing a business in the digital age. He will examine the topic through the lens of the “customer journey,” a concept that is deeply relevant and useful to MSPs.

Dan Wensley – ScalePad

Session Title: Asset Lifecycle Management for Fun & Profit

Dan Wensley is the CEO of ScalePad, global leader in Automated Asset Lifecycle Management. He is entrusted with leading a team of great minds to help IT Service Providers sell more and service less by automating time-consuming processes for hardware, software and warranty services.

No stranger to the ITSP/MSP ecosystem, Dan brings with him more than 25 years of experience propelling organizations to success by applying a high level of tact, ingenuity, and his innate understanding of the unique needs of the industry to develop high performing teams that know how to deliver.

Dan regularly speaks and moderates at industry events across the globe. At VISION ’21, you can expect Dan to share future-focused insights and expert analysis to give your MSP a competitive edge.

Luis Giraldo – ScalePad

Session Title: Asset Lifecycle Management for Fun & Profit

Prior to recently joining ScalePad as Chief Experience Officer, Luis found success in a variety of endeavors. As a professional musician, he traveled the world playing the keyboard with pop star, Shakira. Although he says those days are “firmly in the past,” Luis continues to play jazz piano and has multiple jazz albums to his name! His career as an entrepreneur and innovator is just as illustrious. He founded the MSP firm Ook, where he remains CEO, a second MSP that was acquired by Fully Managed in 2011, and he developed a documentation SaaS app called Monkey Box. Luis also served as Senior Director of Marketing at N-able, where he revamped the content for their MSP marketing platform and facilitated a major rebranding.

After 15 years owning and operating his own IT company, Luis still finds it “amazing to see what technology can do for the businesses” he works with. Luis believes strongly that tech can “help businesses succeed, grow, transform, and innovate.”

At VISION ’21, Luis will be joining Dan Wensley for an illuminating conversation about Asset Lifecycle Management. Two consummate IT pros and expert strategists, their insights can help take your MSP to the next level.

Howard Getson – Capitalogix

Session Title: How Thoughts Become Things

Howard Getson runs an algorithmic hedge fund — and the data science company that powers it. Capitalogix created a revolutionary financial technology platform that uses Adaptive AI to maximize performance with real-time insights. While most high-frequency trading focuses on using technology to make thousands of transactions in a short period of time, Capitalogix’s technology performs millions of observations and only acts on the opportunities determined most likely to have an edge. His prior company, IntellAgent Control, which he founded in 1991, was an Inc. 500 company and won an IBM-Lotus Beacon Award for best business application. Howard is currently on the Advisory Council of the Hastings Center — a Bioethics and AI research institute. Mr. Getson earned a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Duke University in 1984, and in 1987, he received his M.B.A. in Finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his J.D. from Northwestern University Law School.

At VISION ’21, Howard will share business insights rooted in his unique philosophical perspective. There’s a good chance the wisdom he shares will not only enhance your IT business, but give you a whole new lease on life!

Zane Conkle – Cytracom

Session Title: Beyond VoIP: The Next Billion Dollar Opportunity for MSPs

Zane Conkle is an accomplished SaaS leader with broad marketing and technical expertise for developing successful, service-oriented brands. He co-founded Cytracom in 2008 and is the visionary behind the original platform development. Zane led the company to develop one of the first channel-only VoIP models tailored exclusively for Managed Service Providers. He has combined his passion for technology with a laser focus on simplification to create a purpose-built company with the mission of “Connecting the Modern Workforce.”

At VISION ’21, you can expect Zane to open your MSP’s eyes to an exciting new opportunity for MSPs looking to boost their bottom line.

John Tippett – Cytracom

Session Title: Beyond VoIP: The Next Billion Dollar Opportunity for MSPs

John Tippett has more than 25 years in the technology industry, ranging from operating managed IT services firms to leading channel development of companies aspiring to grow in the IT industry. John is an active figure in the industry, regularly participating in industry events and leading community organizations, and offers a unique blend of sales, marketing, operations, and technology experience. As COO of Cytracom, he leads the executive management team to drive transformation and growth across the organization. John was named the inaugural CompTIA Member of the Year in 2016, an honor recognizing his commitment and dedication to advancing the IT industry.

John will be joining Zane Conkle at VISION ’21 for an unforgettable session about the next “billion dollar opportunity” for MSPs.

Ryan Bowman – ThreatLocker

Session Title: How Zero Trust is Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity & What This Means for Your MSP

Ryan Bowman brings 20+ years of IT experience to ThreatLocker as a Solutions Engineer. He works closely with partners to understand the threat landscape and assists in successfully deploying ThreatLocker’s zero trust approach to protecting their customers against the latest threats.

MSPs are facing a wave of cyberattacks that seems to only be growing stronger and more sophisticated. MSPs that survive — let alone thrive — over the next several years are the ones that prioritize cybersecurity right now. Ryan’s session at VISION ’21 will give your MSP a deep look at one of the hottest ideas in security: zero trust. Don’t miss it.

Ted Roller – Zomentum

Session Title: How MSPs Can Increase Close Ratios Using 3 Key Strategies

Ted Roller has over 25 years of experience in the SMB channel, first as a solution provider with Oxford Systems Integration, recognized as a “Fast 50” company by the Dayton Business Journal, then as Channel Chief of Intronis, a cloud-based BDR company, and as VP of Channel Development with LogMeIn, Inc. (LOGM, Nasdaq). Roller has been recognized by MSPmentor, The Channel Company, SMB Nation, and others for his contributions to the channel, and his channel programs have won a multitude of awards.

Elite MSPs have elite sales — it’s really that simple. Come to VISION ’21 and learn about three key strategies you can use to drive your MSP’s close ratio through the roof.

Mark Elliott – The 20

Session Title: Building a Revenue Engine with Sales Cadence

Mark Elliott has been helping businesses develop strategies to analyze, manage, and overcome the ever-changing technology challenges they face for over 25 years. A central focus has been security and HIPAA compliance. His experience includes preventing, detecting, and responding to hackers and threats, thus ensuring that your organization is safe from invasions while simultaneously meeting regulatory compliance.

During his career, Mark has advised clients on effective – and cost-effective – approaches to developing infrastructure that fosters productivity and profitability. His work has provided him with a broad-based knowledge of business from the inside, with an expertise in areas that go beyond IT alone, ranging from strategic planning to cloud computing to workflow automation solutions.

Expect a dynamic and inspiring presentation from Mark at VISION ’21, where he will be diving into the topic of sales cadence: what it is, and how your MSP can harness it to rise to the top of the industry.

Ken Pecot – The 20

Session Title: Good to Great with the Right KPIs

Ken Pecot serves as the Chief Operating Officer for The 20 MSP Group.

Ken is a highly experienced senior executive with a proven track record of helping companies grow their business. Ken has an extensive background in global P&L management, professional and managed services, manufacturing and SCO, enterprise IT operations, sales, R&D leadership, product management, corporate strategy and international business. Ken has run business units with global P&Ls in excess of $2B. He has held previous executive roles with NetScout Systems, Danaher Corporation, Real Networks and Nortel Networks. Ken excels in building winning teams, lean business methodologies, and helping his customers win in the marketplace.

Ken’s talk at VISION ’21 will shed light on how to best use KPIs to grow your managed IT services business. His deep understanding of the topic has the potential to transform the way your IT business looks at metrics.

It’s Time to Get Inspired!

2020 was a hard year, with business owners having to negotiate a variety of pandemic-related challenges. A lot of MSPs are still trying to get back into the regular swing of things. We decided early on to make VISION ’21 all about helping MSPs rediscover their passion, regain any lost momentum, and most of all, get excited about the future again.

As our MSP members know, here at The 20 we’re committed to looking ahead to what’s next, because we know that flourishing as an MSP depends largely on the ability to anticipate and adapt to a rapidly evolving IT industry. And when we look over the speaker lineup for this year’s VISION conference, we can’t help but smile thinking about how many business owners the sessions will inspire and reenergize.

Last year was hard, but 2021 is “The Year of the Return.” Are you ready to kickstart your comeback?

Registration for VISION is OPEN.

VISION ’21 Keynote Speaker Spotlight: Maye Musk and the Art of Winning

Maye Musk — international bestselling author, model, and dietician — raised three children as a single mother, all of whom have gone on to forge successful careers doing what they love. And ‘successful’ is an understatement.

Tosca is an award-winning filmmaker who founded her own production company that brings beloved romance novels to the silver screen. Kimbal is a forward-thinking restaurateur who runs a nonprofit dedicated to establishing “learning gardens” in underserved schools throughout the U.S. And then there’s Elon, one of the richest people on the planet, a man whose various entrepreneurial endeavors are pushing the very boundaries of what we think is possible.

So how did she do it? Maye Musk gets that question a lot. People want to know what her “secret” is for molding uber-successful human beings. To be fair, it would be nice to know something like that.

But when asked about her kids, Musk will just smile, maybe laugh — a big, genuine laugh full of joy and humor — and she’ll downplay her role, wave off the question, or tell you something along the lines of: “I let them go their own way.”

But that’s just Maye Musk for you. She’s not one to brag or draw attention to herself. She’d rather get things done than philosophize about how to get things done. But make no mistake, Musk is no ordinary human being. She’s extraordinary, and that’s what allowed her to raise three successful children as a single mother, who, at times, had to work five jobs just to make ends meet.

So what is her secret? How did she find the strength and resolve to raise her children with barely enough money to get by, earn two master’s degrees, forge a modeling career that has spanned more than five decades, all while running her own dietician practice?

At VISION ’21 later this month, you’ll have an opportunity to hear Maye Musk talk about her amazing life, a life filled with hardship but defined by triumph. It’s going to be an incredible conversation that we truly expect to touch the hearts and minds of many business owners who need a lift after a tough 2020.

Before the big event, we want to share some thoughts on why Maye Musk is an exemplary role model for entrepreneurs in the IT field — and anyone else looking for advice on how to tackle life with more courage, resilience, and enthusiasm.

She Knows Her Values

Maye Musk never pushed her children down any particular path. She let them pick their own interests. But she did make sure of one thing: that they developed certain strong core values. In her recent memoir and advice book, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success, Musk writes: “I brought my children up … to be independent, kind, honest, considerate, and polite, to work hard and do good things.” Musk says the same thing in interviews — that she focused on instilling her children with a moral compass, but let them use that compass to forge their own way ahead. Or, as Musk puts it, with her characteristic directness and lack of pretension, “Teach your children good manners. But let them decide what they want.”

Business owners need values — both for themselves and for the organizations they lead. Values aren’t just something you put on your company website. In fact, values are everything — the be-all-end-all of your business. They’re the reason your company exists in the first place. They’re what you care about most deeply.

Money isn’t a value, because we don’t want money for its own sake; its value is purely instrumental, in that we only desire money because we can trade it for other things (concrete goods like food and clothing, as well as more abstract good like ‘more time with our family’ and ‘freedom to travel’). So you don’t value money — not as much as what it can give you, at least — but what do you value?

If you don’t have a clear idea of what your values are, you’re going to have trouble finding the motivation and energy to work hard on your business — year after year after year. You run your business in order to make money, and you make money in order to … If you have trouble finishing this sentence, it means you’re not working toward a clear goal. You’re just … working. Treading water.

How effectively can you really expect to grow your business if you’re not working toward something bigger than yourself — something more meaningful than money that gets you out of bed each morning and lets you attack the day with purpose?

Be like Maye, and know your values, because at the end of the day, they’re all that matters.

She Knows How to Live with Uncertainty

What is it to be an entrepreneur?

To exist in a continuous state of uncertainty — and embrace it. This definition isn’t complete, but it captures what it arguably at the very core of business ownership. Well, successful business ownership. In other words, if you’re running your own organization, get used to uncertainty, because it comes with the territory. Since eliminating uncertainty isn’t on the table, your choice is simple: learn to tolerate — or even embrace — the feeling of uncertainty, or let it fill you with fear, doubt, and hesitation.

Maye Musk knows a thing or two about facing down uncertainty. She became a single mom at thirty-one years old, and has had to, over the course of her life, start over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. There were points in her journey when she didn’t know how — or even whether — she would be able to make enough money to put a roof over her children’s heads and clothes on their backs. But she never let uncertainty paralyze her. When times were tough, she focused on what she needed to do to improve her situation and that of her three children. And then she did it.

This should resonate with a lot of business owners. Think about your IT business. Are there things you know need changing, which you haven’t changed because you’re paralyzed by uncertainty — intimidated by all the “what ifs” that come with any decision to try something new?

What would Musk tell you to do?

Take the first step, that’s what. Let’s say you’ve all but committed to doing a complete overhaul of your business’s documentation practices, but you just can’t seem to find the gumption to get started — to overcome your inertia and fear and dive into the unknown. What should you do?

Well, first of all, it’s good to have a plan. But as Musk points out in her book, “Your plan doesn’t need to be a five-year plan. If you’re always thinking too far ahead, it can become difficult to make that first step.” Starting is the most important part of making any kind of significant change. When doubt and anxiety press in on you from all sides, take a deep breath, and make the first move. Then, step back, and focus on your next move.

The advice is simple, yes, but then again, most good advice is. The difficulty doesn’t lie in understanding, but following it.

She Knows How to Push Through Pain

Maye Musk is one tough cookie. That is beyond dispute. As a single mother, she worked up to five jobs at a time to provide for her family and still had to follow a strict budget, for many years doing without luxuries of any kind. At one point, she and her three children shared a one-bedroom apartment; they slept in the bedroom, she took the living room couch.

If you’re a business owner, you should be taking notes. In today’s world, being tough is perhaps an underappreciated trait, but the truth remains: successful people have grit. In fact, there are multiple studies that suggest grit — which some psychologists define as a combination of passion and perseverance — is a better predictor of success than IQ, SAT scores, or where you went to school.

Why is grit so important to running a business? Because entrepreneurs have to fail. If you want to make it big, strike it rich, shake up the industry, etc. — you have to fail, fail, and fail some more. Winners don’t always win; winners fail and try again.

Interestingly, taking things too seriously can prevent you from embracing failure. If you’ve ever seen an interview with Maye Musk — or if you’ve been lucky enough to meet her in person — you’ll know that she loves to laugh and poke fun at herself. This lighthearted attitude has allowed her to be playful in life — to try new things because, well, why not?

So keep this somewhat counterintuitive advice in mind as you go forward with your business; if you want to be grittier as a business owner, learn to see your entrepreneurial endeavors as a game. When you trade in the ‘do-or-die’ nonsense for a playful willingness to try new things — and possibly fail — it’s a lot easier to roll with the punches and keep on trucking.

Find Your Inner Winner

So there you have it — three reasons why Maye Musk makes a kick-a** role model for IT business owners and anyone else who isn’t content to live a “small life.”

We hope this has given you some inspiration to keep pushing forward with your business. Remember, running a successful business is a mental game. If you can cultivate your own “winning mindset” and keep yourself grounded in your values, there’s no telling how much you can accomplish.

But what if you’re nowhere near having a “winning mindset”? What if you’re feeling unmotivated, tired, or even hopeless?

Well, when you’re faced with what seems like a herculean task, remember, the best thing you can do is take the first step. Pick something small — some minor improvement you can make to your attitude — and try it for just one day. And then, pick something else.

You got this.

Register for VISION ’21!

VISION ’21 is going to be out of this world this year. Register today and brace yourself for Maye Musk and a host of other inspiring speakers who can help you take your IT business to the next level.

RMM stands for Remote Monitoring and Management. This is basically a SaaS or on-premise software solution which allows agents to be managed, monitored, certain actions to be automated (scripts or procedures), and for agents to be remotely controlled. Most RMM tools support policies and organization methods which allow for agents to be grouped by client, location, function, etc. Depending on the OS supported or in use, the RMM may also support patching, software deployments, and many other features.

Most RMM tools work in conjunction with a PSA (Professional Services Automation) tool in order to support ticketing with monitors (alerts) and other operations. This allows technical professionals to monitor and alert customers to what is going on with their agents or sites. Some RMM’s will even integrate this with their remote control allowing a jump from one system into the other (e.g. from the PSA to the RMM) without manual steps.

Many RMM tools support extension via different integrations with other products. Some will allow integration with various security products such as antivirus solutions or other security suites, while others allow development of custom plugins. What is available depends on the specific RMM and what your business needs. Some RMM vendors partner with specific vendors in the channel while others mix and match multiple solutions depending on what clients need.

Major Features for RMM’s

Integration with other products tends to make or break an RMM as the principle core of an MSP or similar technical shop’s infrastructure. An RMM that doesn’t integrate with a PSA or contain a ticketing system will make basic work near impossible to track in a scalable fashion. If an RMM doesn’t allow extensibility in a sane way, you’re going to struggle to get most basic tasks done. Deploying an antivirus solution can require clicking a button or building your own custom solutions. We’ve dealt with both, and one takes minutes while another can take weeks to iron out.

What kind of scripting or automation procedures does an RMM support? Automation and scripting can make or break an MSP or IT department. We run many hours of automation processes per agent per month, which means a tech doesn’t have to. As you expand out what works and what doesn’t, you can expand this to handle more and more fringe cases. When we actually see a disk alert, it means a person needs to intervene rather than some temp files have built up naturally or some other trivial case. The same goes for certain events and similar issues.

How well does monitoring work and does it report what you need? Too much noise and you waste more time than you save, but too little alerting and you miss out on all sorts of red flags. You need to know what’s going on as soon as it happens, and the right monitoring makes that possible.

What kind of connectivity are you getting to a machine? Solutions like LiveConnect can allow versatile access to a machine and its resources, but some solutions use basic VNC with nothing else. How are you working with files, registry keys, event logs, and similar to manage your job without having to disrupt a user every time you need access?

Major Vendors

At The 20, we use Kaseya’s VSA in conjunction with BMS. This suite is natively integrated with IT Glue for documentation. Kaseya VSA is one of the major players in the RMM space which allows for a scalable environment that allows your business to grow. The solution is focused on ease of use and flexibility at the expense of certain more technical control (without knowing how to access it).

ConnectWise Control and Automate are another major player for an RMM solution which ties into ConnectWise Manage as the PSA. These solutions used to be called Labtech, ScreenConnect and ConnectWise. There are other solutions like Continuum, SolarWinds, NinjaRMM, Atera, N-Able, etc. which all try to do the same basic thing different ways with different strengths and different weaknesses. Most of these tools have an associated PSA and will have different integrations which can limit or expand an MSP’s offering. Some will even be compatible with tools from other RMM or PSA vendors.

Choosing an RMM

It’s hard to choose an RMM since (outside of the standard known vendors) there aren’t really objectively “good” and “bad” options. Each RMM will have strengths and weaknesses in how it works with the systems you use, how it integrates with other vendors and tools, and how it handles the scaling you need. For smaller MSP’s, this means that most RMM tools are going to differentiate themselves based on pricing and preferred pricing for specific stacks (e.g. RMM, PSA, security suite, etc. all in one package).

For instance, if you sign with Kaseya, you’ll get access to IT Glue and Unitrends in a capacity you can’t get from other vendors. ConnectWise and similar have deals with different vendors that may fill the same gap better or worse than others (for individual metrics). These price points will usually scale with a business, but are rarely as good as can be negotiated by a larger MSP or MSP groups on a vendor-by-vendor basis (outside of preferred vendors and special contracts).

Medium-sized MSP’s will probably want to differentiate based on ease of scaling (both up and down) as well as the difference in technical capacity. Some RMM’s are simple to manage, but just don’t work for more than a few hundred agents. This isn’t a big deal if you’re just getting started but will ruin your business if you grow too big (especially if you’re growing fast). You also need something which is going to support deploying software and automating tasks without a lot of manual intervention.

Growing with Your RMM

As your MSP grows, the RMM vendor’s preferred stack becomes less important for many and the bigger issue becomes scale, tenancy, and control. This is the same basic thing a medium-sized MSP has to contend with, but the metrics become even more important. Something being less efficient for an individual action but more efficient for general maintainability is a bigger factor than for a medium-sized MSP. Ideally, as you trade up RMM’s to the biggest offerings, you’re focusing on trading a fixed cost per agent for a large variable cost of work being automated or removed to make the process scalable.

Scaling is more than just throwing more agents into the stack. You need a process and best practices which help ensure that your business can handle the growth you’re seeing. Some RMM tools can support 20,000 agents, but there needs to be a standard to make it tenable or you might see the system choke by 10,000.

As you expand your operations, how does an RMM allow you to handle scaling? Are there easy options to add new instances or do you need to deal with conflicting setups? How does it handle the same automation that worked for 1,000 agents at 5,000, 10,000, and even 20,000 or more agents? These aren’t necessarily questions you need to ask when you’re smaller, but as you begin to hit each plateau, what are you doing to prevent yourself from being locked out of scalable growth?

Contact us to find out what The 20 can do for your MSP as it grows.

Post-Pandemic Principles for MSP Growth

The pandemic was hard on all of us, and it rocked the business world to its very foundations. But it’s like Einstein said, “In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.” This is definitely true in regard to the situation that managed IT service businesses are currently facing. Managed service providers (MSPs) are on the cusp of a potentially very fruitful next five years.

Covid-19 dealt us all a bad hand, but MSPs who play their cards right can stand to benefit from certain conditions that prevail in the post-pandemic world. The key phrase here is play their cards right. Although the MSP market is expected to grow a lot in the next five years, not all MSPs are going to be lifted by the rising tide. As in most industries, a select portion of MSPs are going to feast on profits, while everyone else fights for scraps.

To sum up the situation: what you’re facing right now as an MSP is an opportunity, not a gift. Current conditions are conducive to MSP growth, but getting to where you want to be with your business is still going to depend, more than anything else, on what YOU do.

The purpose of this blog post is to equip you with some general principles to guide you forward as you navigate the next several years of your MSP’s journey. Principles are important in life; they give us structure and focus. They allow us to cut through the noise and chaos and build toward a greater goal.

But before we get to “post-pandemic principles for MSP growth,” let’s review why right now is a great time to commit to your MSP’s growth.

The Time is Ripe to Grow Your MSP

The Rise of Working from Home (WFH)

We saw a sweeping transition to remote work as a consequence of Covid-19 — a change which appears to be here to stay. The rise of WFH complicates individual companies’ IT infrastructures and provides new points of ingress for threat actors.

What this all means for MSPs can be spelled out in two words: greater demand. Specifically, there is now a greater than ever demand for the type of proactive cybersecurity that MSPs tend to offer. This brings us to the second post-pandemic reality that has the potential to catalyze MSP growth …

Cybersecurity

Even before the rise of WFH, cybercrime was already a growing problem. The digital age is a dangerous one, and as more and more cyberattacks make the news, businesses are waking up and smelling the coffee: modern businesses cannot survive — let alone thrive — without a robust security posture. A survey of SMBs carried out by ConnectWise found that 79% of respondents were worried about undergoing a cyberattack in the next six months. And this very justifiable fear will translate to spending — or, investment rather: a study published by MarketsandMarkets™ forecasts that the global cybersecurity market will balloon to $248.26 billion by 2023 (it was at $152.71 billion in 2018).

MSPs stand to capitalize on these trends as their cybersecurity offerings tend to be more proactive and comprehensive than those offered by traditional break/fix outfits.

Digitalization

Finally, there’s the digital revolution itself, which continues to carry out society forward at breakneck speed. The IT landscape is constantly evolving and gaining complexity, and businesses are beginning to embrace — though perhaps not as quickly as they should — the idea that your IT provider shouldn’t just fix your computers, but turn your entire IT environment into an asset that improves your business’s operational efficiency and boosts profitability. And this idea is of course at the very heart of the MSP business model.

If you’re reading this as an MSP owner, the above three post-pandemic realities should be heartening, as they make one thing abundantly clear: Your MSP can really take off in the next several years. But don’t just expect it to happen. Make it happen. Put in the work. Plan intelligently. Make necessary changes to your business even when it scares you — especially when it scares you.

And keep the following principles in mind as you move forward with your business, as they can help you get the most out of your efforts.

Principles to Grow By

Principle #1: Go Deep!

This principle is vague and abstract, but therein lies its value: you can apply it to various aspects of your business. Here, we’ll look at two ways in which “go deep” serves as a useful guide.

The first has to do with your MSP’s offerings. Now, although it’s simplistic to say that it’s better to perfect a service you already offer than it is to add a new one, MSPs are often too eager to expand their repertoire, rather than ‘deepen’ it. Deepening your MSP’s offerings can simply mean getting better at them, or it can mean choosing one or two to focus on as specialties and points of emphasis in your marketing strategy. MSPs who specialize appeal to niche markets who are willing to spend a little more for tailored IT support. So don’t lose sight of the importance of mastery in your efforts to make your MSP a jack of all trades.

The second application of the “go deep” principle concerns client relationships (also the focus of the next principle). Many MSPs believe that adopting a “growth mindset” means something like: Seek out as many clients as possible. This can be detrimental for a variety of reasons (bad clients do more harm than good!), but one distinct cost of growth-by-expansion is that it can take your focus away from clients you already have.

The key to MSP profitability is, let’s not forget, recurring revenue, which you get when your clients stay put — when you build long-term relationships with the people you serve. Expansion is good, but not if it stretches you so thin that you can’t provide white-glove service and support to the businesses who are trusting you to do so. So instead of always looking for new clients, devote plenty of time and resources to deepening the relationships you have with your existing clients. It WILL pay off.

Principle #2: Put Relationships First

Our second principle for MSP growth in the post-pandemic world is really an extension of the first. However, given how utterly crucial relationships are to MSP health — and how they’re often underappreciated or just plain neglected — we think a separate discussion on the importance of relationships is in order. The discussion doesn’t have to be lengthy though, because the principle says it all: PUT RELATIONSHIPS FIRST. If you’re into mantras, work this one into the rotation. Say it to yourself in the mirror every morning before work. Buy a bumper sticker. Get a tattoo!

All jokes aside, find a way not to lose focus of the fact that your MSP is only as successful as the relationships it builds.

The relationships your MSP builds with clients are, of course, of the utmost importance. Happy clients stay put, and the best way to make your clients happy is to actually connect with them on a human level. They’ve hired you to be their IT provider, not their friend, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make an effort to get to know them. Asking for referrals isn’t a bad practice, but if you’re truly taking care of clients, they’ll often refer you without needing to be asked. When that happens, you know you’re doing things the right way — with a human touch.

Take care of your clients, but don’t forget to foster relationships within your MSP too. Check in with your employees, promote a positive and supportive company culture, solicit feedback — and don’t go about doing this in an ‘artificial’ way, like a robot that feeds on metrics. Putting relationships first doesn’t mean pretending to for the sake of profit. It means actually caring, actually listening, actually connecting. If you can be real with your clients and your employees, and form genuine human connections with them, you can help your MSP stand out as a true IT partner in a sea of IT providers.

Principle #3: Figure Out How to Talk to Prospects and Clients about Cybersecurity

You might be thinking, “Aren’t principles supposed to give us answers, not tell us to figure things out on our own?” But here’s the thing: there is no agreed upon answer in this case — no consensus among MSPs as to how best present the issue of cybersecurity to prospects and clients.

Channel Future’s recent survey of MSPs yielded a variety of answers to the question: How are you addressing customers’ cybersecurity concerns? Some MSPs reported that they take an optimistic tack, reassuring customers that they’re being protected by “best-in-class products and suppliers.” Other MSPs said they choose to be frank about the severity of situation, telling customers outright that nobody who uses the internet is “safe.”

It’s not as though there is one perfect way to broach the issue of cybersecurity, and how you frame it for your clients will depend on your style of communication, among other factors. That said, finding out what works for you can give you a competitive edge.

Fear tactics can be too aggressive, but generic optimism and confidence might sound hollow and inauthentic to your prospects and clients. Try to find that sweet spot, where you’re honest about the very real dangers of cybercrime, but at the same time, confident and reassuring in how you characterize your MSP’s approach to cybersecurity. If you can pull of this feat of nuance, it will help you convert more leads and boost that bottom line.

Principle #4: Marketing, Marketing, Marketing!

If you choose to follow only one of the principles presented in this blog post, let it be this one. Here’s the deal. You might not like marketing. You might even think it’s silly — that it shouldn’t matter what font you use on your website, whether you post regularly on social media, etc. Or maybe you’re just not comfortable ‘putting yourself out there’ the way marketing often requires. And that’s fine. You don’t have to like marketing. But you do have to do it — if you’re serious about growing a successful MSP in this ultra-competitive industry. You have to do it consistently, seriously, and well. Why?

Because it WORKS. Look at what successful MSPs are doing. Put aside your pride and really look. They’re marketing up a storm. And they’re not going about it willy-nilly, either. They’re systematic, and in many cases, they’re hiring experts, because let’s be honest, most people who found MSPs know a lot more about tech than they do marketing.

Now, it can be scary to invest in marketing. When you begin marketing in a serious way, the results aren’t always immediate. It’s anxiety-inducing not to see a healthy ROI right away. But that’s just the way it works. You market your butt off, nothing happens. You keep going, making tweaks and adjustments. Nothing happens. A few more months. More tweaks. More adjustments. You see a few results. Nothing big. Then you start to notice a trickle. A lead here and a lead there. After a year — maybe more — the trickle grows stronger. You refine your methods even more. Now the trickle is a stream. Your sales pipeline gets fuller and fuller. You’re amazed to find yourself actually turning down work because your team is at capacity.

This is the pattern we see time and again, so if you’re planning on bringing your MSP’s marketing up to speed, you MUST (a) commit to being patient, and (b) commit to actively working on your marketing on an ongoing basis — or to hiring professionals who will do so.

Grow Your MSP with The 20

We’ve seen that MSPs face a potentially lucrative five years if they get their houses in order. The MSP market is growing, but it’s also becoming increasingly crowded and competitive. There’s no shortage of demand for the type of IT services and solutions that MSPs offer, but how do you distinguish your MSP in the eyes of your potential customers? How do you separate yourself from the herd?

The 20 is an exclusive business development group of MSPs aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-on-approach. Growing a successful MSP requires a lot more than technological prowess, and The 20 offers a robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform, along with proven processes for sales and marketing, to help MSPs not only separate themselves from the herd, but leave it in the dust. Instead of assembling all the moving parts your MSP needs in a piecemeal fashion, join The 20 and get them all in one convenient package. Learn more about what The 20 does and how we can help your MSP achieve monumental revenue generation and unprecedented profitability and growth.

Meet John of Just Right Computers!

Tell us a little about your MSP…

Just Right Computers is located in San Diego, CA and was established in June of 1995. Just Right offers a complete, Managed IT Department (MID) for Small and Medium Businesses like Manufacturing companies, healthcare providers, hospitality industry, non-profits, law offices and property management companies. We are FANATICAL about customer service and have become the guardian of our clients’ networks, protecting them from viruses, hackers, cyber-criminals, disgruntled employees, natural disasters and downtime. We cover IT. You grow your business.

How long have you been a member of The 20?

 We’ve been a member of The 20 for 3 years. 

Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?

I was tired of not knowing how to price my services, wanted to scale, and wanted The 20’s business model.

Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.

 I now know confidently that I can sell to and service larger companies. I now sell 3 year contracts for MID service (was month to month before) and confidently present with certainty on my pricing. I couldn’t do that before because I didn’t believe I could. I now have a company with processes and documentation to scale as needed and have built the value of my business because of that and clients on 3 year contracts.

What do you like most about being a member of The 20?

The community of like minded individuals. The 20’s business model. I’m all in!

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?

 Integrity first, then confidence and persistence.

What are your biggest business challenges?

Pipeline – that’s why I am in Growth Automation. I need more leads and more opportunities.

What are your areas of focus for 2022?

Growth – I need to add more clients and more MRR.

What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?

If you want to scale quickly, join The 20!

What book are you currently reading?

“The Pumpkin Plan” (again) and “Get Different – Marketing that can’t be ignored” both by Mike Michalowicz

Favorite blogs/podcasts

Interested in becoming a member like Just Right Computers? Click here for more information!