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Channel Futures Names The 20’s Tim Conkle a 2025 Channel Influencer Award Winner

Tim Conkle of The 20 recognized as 2025 Channel Influencer by Channel Futures for revolutionary MSP collaboration and growth strategies.

Plano, TX. — March 18, 2025 — Tim Conkle, founder and CEO of The 20, has been named a 2025 Channel Influencer Award winner by Channel Futures.

Tim Conkle is one of 50 individuals recognized by the editors of Channel Futures as a thought leader who has impacted the direction of the IT and communications indirect sales channel in the past year. He is profiled on Channel Futures and in a special digital issue that can be downloaded from the website.

Since 2018, the Channel Futures Channel Influencer Awards have recognized the 50 top-performing executives in the information technology and communications channel. Channel Futures Channel Influencers are a cross-section of industry leaders who have had the biggest impact on their organizations and on the channel overall. From technology advisors to managed service providers, vendor and distributor execs, analysts and more, these senior leaders represent the future of the channel. We recognize them as the year’s highest achievers in strategic thinking and innovation in the indirect sales channel. Among the 50 executives honored, Channel Futures recognizes two Influencers from the list who we consider to be the year’s most influential.

This year’s Channel Influencers of the Year are Kate Woolley, general manager of ecosystem, IBM, and Mike Baur, CEO of ScanSource. Check out the full list of honorees here.

Previous Influencer of the Year honorees, now in the Channel Futures Channel Influencer Hall of Fame, are:

Gavriella Schuster, former channel leader at Microsoft (2018)
Janet Schijns, CEO of JS Group (2019)
John DeLozier, formerly with 8×8, now CRO of C1 (2020)
Jay McBain, formerly with Forrester, now chief analyst for Canalys (2021)
Rich Hume, CEO of TD SYNNEX, now retired (2022)
Christopher Trapp, founder and CEO of UPSTACK (2022)
Fred Voccola, CEO of Kaseya, now vice chair (2023)
Craig Patterson, SVP of global sales for Aryaka, now global channel leader at Exabeam (2023)
Christopher Jones, AVP, AT&T Partner Solutions, Alliance Channel & ACC Business, now national VP, partner channel, Americas at GTT (2024)
Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom (2024)

The 2025 Channel Influencers join an illustrious group that has left an indelible mark on the entire technology channel, impacting the way today’s most innovative IT and connectivity solutions go to market, are sold, delivered to customers and supported. These executives selected by Channel Futures have distinguished themselves through their unwavering support of the partner community, forging deep and trusted relationships across the ecosystem. In selecting this year’s Influencers, Channel Futures’ editors considered the organization’s partner growth, channel innovation and the individual’s commitment to the indirect sales channel, along with the standing each person has among their peers.

“Channel Futures is proud to identify a whole new class of movers and shakers who are having a profound impact on the way the channel does business,” said Craig Galbraith, editorial director for Channel Futures. “As the majority of businesses seeking technology solutions rely on channel partners to help them evolve and grow, the Influencers on this list are at the core of the industry today.”

Reflecting on the recognition, Conkle shared, “When I look at the names of the other honorees – past and present – I feel a lot of things, but above all I just feel this profound sense of gratitude. The IT channel has given me a fulfilling career, but more than that, it’s given me lasting friendships, a steady stream of interesting challenges, and the opportunity to make a real difference. To be named a Channel Influencer means a lot, and lets me know I’ve been able to give back a little of what I’ve been so lucky to receive.”

About Channel Futures

Channel Futures, part of Informa TechTarget, is the premier destination for the information technology and communications industry. We provide news and information, analysis and connection for the entire channel ecosystem, including solution providers (SPs), managed service providers (MSPs), managed security service providers (MSSPs), cloud service providers (CSPs), value-added resellers (VARs) and distributors, technology services distributors (TSDs) and technology advisors (agents), as well as leading technology vendor partners and communication providers.

We are the home of the MSP 501 list, a ranking of the most influential and fastest-growing providers of managed services in the technology industry, and we are the official media sponsor of Channel Partners events, including the Channel Partners Conference & Expo − the world’s largest independent channel event − and the MSP Summit. Channel Futures is where the world meets the channel.

About The 20 MSP Group

The 20 MSP Group is an exclusive consortium for Managed Service Providers (MSP) aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-in-one approach. The 20’s robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform ensures superior service for its MSPs’ clients utilizing their completely US-based Help Desk and Network Operations Center. Extending beyond proven tools and processes, The 20 touts a proven sales model, a community of industry-leading MSPs, and ultimate scalability. To learn more, visit the20.com.

About The 20 MSP

The 20 MSP has been helping businesses succeed through better technology since 1986. As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves thousands of businesses nationwide, providing each one with white-glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients’ success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth. To learn more, visit the20msp.com.

The 20 MSP continues multi-year M&A spree with acquisition of Alexandria-based Mid-Atlantic Computer Solutions, expands presence in the D.C. metro area.

The 20 MSP, a leading managed service provider (MSP) with offices nationwide, today announced its first M&A deal of 2025 and 38th MSP acquisition to date. The latest MSP to join The 20’s rapidly expanding ranks is Mid-Atlantic Computer Solutions, an experienced and operationally mature MSP headquartered in Alexandria, VA and serving clients in the greater DC metro area.

Mid-Atlantic Computer Solutions joined The 20’s membership-based growth platform, The 20 MSP Group, in 2020, and has since achieved remarkable year-on-year growth as a member. The company initially sought The 20’s help with scale, security, and compliance, and reports a number of operational improvements since joining the group.

Last year at VISION ’24, The 20’s annual in-person event for growth-focused MSPs and their channel partners, Mid-Atlantic Computer Solutions won the “Most Engaged MSP” Award. a testament to the organization’s commitment to collaboration and continuous improvement as a member of The 20 MSP Group.

“Will and his team are serious about mastering the business side of things, and have consistently shown that they’re willing to do all the little things to stand out in our crowded industry,” said Tim Conkle, founder and CEO of The 20. “There are a lot of MSPs out there, but very few are willing to make those big operational changes that enable greater scalability. It’s been a pleasure supporting Mid-Atlantic Computer Solutions’ growth as a member of our group, and the company’s progress in the last several years reflects the effectiveness of Will’s leadership and the clarity of his vision. We’re excited to pursue even bigger and better things with Will and his talented team now part of The 20,” Conkle added.

The 20 is pleased to announce that O’Neal and several key team members are remaining on board post-acquisition. “We’re thrilled that Will is sticking around, and we will soon announce his new role within The 20,” Conkle shared. “At the core of our M&A strategy is the idea that great MSPs are built on a foundation of great leadership, and our expansion has been just as focused on deepening our bench of talent as it’s been on deepening our footprint. Our business model is rock-solid, but what really makes this engine run is the incredible people giving their best each day.”

The 20 has additional acquisitions in the pipeline, including a pair of deals set to close in April. The company’s consolidation strategy continues to focus on purchasing MSPs belonging to The 20 MSP Group, as it facilitates swift and seamless integration, with proven processes that enable acquired companies to be fully integrated within 90 days.

“We’re gearing up for another big year of growth,” Conkle shared. “When you’ve got the right model, the right team, and the right approach, scaling becomes an expected outcome – the natural result of a system that’s been built for success. I’m excited to keep growing this year, but I’m more excited to witness the improvements and efficiencies this growth will bring.”

Pinecrest Capital Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor to The 20 MSP on the acquisition and associated financing.

About The 20 MSP

As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves thousands of businesses nationwide, providing each one with white-glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients’ success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth. To learn more, visit the20msp.com

About The 20 MSP Group

SUCCESS AT MSP SUMMIT: Highlights and Takeaways

Last week at MSP SUMMIT, Tim Conkle – founder and CEO of The 20 – stood on a stage in front of a room full of MSP owners and told them the truth.

He also handed out little rectangular pocket mirrors, telling the business leaders in the audience: “This is the only tool that matters.” Tim’s message for the MSPs in the room was a powerful one: Your MSP’s growth starts with YOU.

MSP SUMMIT was filled with ‘moments of truth’ like this. Our goal for the event was to inspire and help attendees – MSP professionals from all over the country – to decide, once and for all: To grow or not to grow? That’s because this isn’t the year to play it safe – to sit on the sidelines, wondering what if; if you truly want to build your MSP business into a large and profitable company, this is the year to go all in.

We’re confident we got through to a lot of the MSP owners in attendance last week, and look forward to witnessing their growth in 2025. To celebrate a successful event, we want to share MSP SUMMIT highlights and key takeaways. We hope you enjoy this recap blog – and hope to see your MSP at our next major in-person events: Q2 SUMMIT and VISION ’25!

Wednesday – MRR Growth, Less Grind

MSP SUMMIT kicked off on Wednesday with a sensational set of sessions led by Chris Wiser of 7 Figure MSP™. Chris – and his team over at 7 Figure – don’t mince words, and Double Your MRR in 6 Months or Less was packed with no-nonsense growth guidance for the ambitious MSP owner.

Chris urged attendees to shift from a “tech-focused” to a “growth-focused” mindset, and refused to sugarcoat an important truth: If you want success as an MSP owner, you’ve got to move – you’ve got to take risks and embrace failure as part of the process. He also addressed a pervasive bias that commonly holds MSPs back: the idea that profit and service excellence are at odds. The truth is, MSPs that prioritize profit will have the freedom to make the right choices for clients – i.e., choices based not on “what can I afford” but on “what’s best.”

A huge thanks to Chris and the 7 Figure team for helping us kick off SUMMIT on the perfect note.

Thursday – Compliance Mastery, Here We Come

Thursday marked the first full day of sessions, and after breakfast, our own Tim Conkle took the stage to deliver an energizing opener, What’s Next for MSPs. Tim’s talk lit a fire under many of the MSPs in the audience. He reminded these companies that egos are “expensive as sh*t,” and that the best time to make big changes at your MSP is today. This industry is moving forward at lightspeed right now – and it won’t wait up for stragglers.

But what do those “big changes” look like when the rubber hits the road? Tim talked about that too, delving into the mechanics of specific growth strategies, including an M&A-based approach.

The overarching takeaway from Tim’s presentation: small and medium-sized MSP owners should be building to sell in the next five years. Simply put, it’s ‘go time.’

During Tim’s opener, attendees had the chance to take the mic and share their dreams for the future. Hearing these MSP owners talk about their “whys” was genuinely moving – a powerful reminder of the passion and purpose driving this industry forward.

After Tim’s talk, MSP SUMMIT attendees were treated to a 1-day compliance workshop for MSPs: Cybersecurity Compliance Mastery. Led by MSPCyberX’s Brian Hubbard, the workshop gave MSPs an in-depth look at CMMC and what it means for their business, along with practical strategies for transforming cybersecurity compliance from a “box to be checked” into a “powerful tool for growth.”

Brian impressed us with his deep industry expertise, his attention to detail, and his advice tailored to the specific needs of MSPs. The truth is, regulatory demands have become too complex and extensive for MSPs to handle alone. Savvy MSPs are actively seeking external guidance – like the sort MSPCyberX provides – because they know it’s the only viable path to “compliance mastery.”

A huge thank you to Brian and the MSPCyberX team for leading the charge and lighting the way.

Friday – All About AI

The final day of SUMMIT was packed with content to help MSPs grow. Tim Conkle set the tone for the AI-themed day with another terrific opener, Living in a Two-Dimensional World. He shared his considered opinions on AI (It’s here – and it’s about to be everywhere). He asked tough questions (What can displace us/the MSP business model?) and confronted hard truths (Realistically, small and mid-sized MSP owners are looking at a 5-year window to build and sell a profitable business).

Another industry legend, Rob Rae (Pax8), took the stage on Friday and delivered an engaging presentation on Pax8’s partner ecosystem. He highlighted how purchasing habits and preferences have shifted dramatically over the past decade and emphasized that MSPs who adapt quickly to the needs of the modern end user will thrive. Truly insightful stuff, Rob!

Friday also featured an AI Panel, moderated by our own Crystal Conkle (CMO of The 20), who was joined on stage by Christine Ululati (GlassHive), Zachary Wilcoxen (PRETECT), and Seana Fippin (Red Box Business Solutions). There’s no way to summarize in the space of a blog all the insights shared during the lively discussion, but one takeaway is crystal clear:

The AI revolution is well under way, and the best MSPs are already experimenting and innovating to make the most of this exciting new technology.

A heartfelt thank you to our panelists – y’all were amazing!

We’d like to thank and recognize the other speakers who graced the stage on the final day of MSP SUMMIT…

Microsoft‘s Jason Jones‘ presentation on the game-changing capabilities of Copilot was as entertaining as it was eye-opening.

Keith Young (N-able) had us all rethinking backup with his presentation on Cove Date Protection, Jon DePerro (Kaseya) expertly broke down The Anatomy of a Compliance Sale, and Bob Abrams (Huntress) talked about the importance of proactive cybersecurity for MSPs, sharing hard-won insights from the front lines.

Danny Astin and Gary Elmer (Ciardi, Ciardi & Astin) shed light on the complex legal dimensions surrounding AI in the MSP space, while The 20’s own Michael Wayland shared AI-driven automation use cases to help MSPs start saving time and resources.

A Texas-sized THANK YOU to everyone who made MSP SUMMIT a success. Now here’s to getting out there, applying what we learned, and having ourselves a huge 2025!

By Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20

Break-fix is a dirty word in IT, especially for established MSPs. It’s also the model most MSPs grew up with. Break-fix pulls more money out of the technical process for better and for worse, but it also stifles growth at scale. While your business may have moved away from break-fix proper, what services do you offer which still qualify as break-fix in ideology?

In the beginning, a transactional model might be the best as you focus on ironing out what your business does and building a reputation. But, as you grow, you need to move away from transactional sales to focus on building contracts. A contract means that you are putting your faith in a continued involvement and making costs more predictable for both you and your client. It’s also a test of faith for your client on whether you have educated them enough to trust what you’re doing for them.

Let’s go over what makes up a break-fix mindset, why it is a net negative in most situations, why there is nuance to needing some break-fix options, how to reframe your SLA (Service Level Agreements), how to get out of break-fix, and how to scale your business.

Breaking Down Break-Fix

The break-fix model is most simply: If it breaks, we fix it. This can be computers, networking gear, software, etc. You’re willing to charge a rate per unit of time in order to perform work to rectify some specific issue.

This principle can be abstracted further with project rates and work which isn’t rolled into a service offering. Even large MSPs which normally only work on contracts will still have some level of break-fix options. This can be do to the fact the “service” isn’t economically viable, or even as an anchor to make the service feel more valuable (e.g. the anchor for break-fix is near the cost of the service, one is predictable, the other isn’t).

Project work outside of the scope of your SLA contract can be an example of a break-fix principle in your process. You’re trading time to fix a problem. Sometimes, it makes sense, for instance, most people don’t buy flood insurance if they live on a high hill; they just eat the cost. The water doesn’t reach them except once in a lifetime if then.

Sometimes, break-fix ideas bleed into areas we aren’t familiar. Some MSPs have rates for tangential services they aren’t as confident in. It’s hard to compute a fair price if you don’t what the end results look like or what the average costs or. It can be just as true if you don’t know what the range looks like versus the average.

Why Break-Fix Breaks

As you onboard a contract client and shore up their issues, you put the bulk of the work in the beginning and ideally make their technology just work for them while collecting a fee to maintain it. When you do break-fix, you just fix the issues from before and then they don’t see why they need a technical service provider until the problems mount up again. Computers are new in business even though they’ve been here for a full generation.

A small MSP will break-fix a client into where a competing MSP can win them over. They did the painful onboarding day and night so that someone else could get money per month to do virtually nothing. Automation and proactive alerting make a difference between a client costing you a few hours and days or weeks of downtime. When you do things right, a contract means an expensive onboarding then a huge reduction in cost and pure profit.

Small MSPs can’t afford it, but as you scale, you can’t afford not to. A contract means that you throw all of your resources or a sizable amount into the onboarding, and then you just collect the proceeds to make things keep working. Everyone is happy because most businesses plan around a fixed cost for support or similar over a yearly period.

An amortized $10k is less expensive to an established business than a $5k surprise. The cost in risk reduction is worth more than the extra cost per amortized month for certain industries. Risk adverse businesses are usually resilient to most changes and are typically more dependable for invoices.

You can support a start-up, or you can support a static company. One may not grow, but your team might which means more of the same type of static companies is more profit for less cooperative effort. As you stabilize, so does your expectation of the clients you support. In the B2B space, the business type you support becomes the foundation of your existence.

Why Break/Fix Works

Break-fix wouldn’t be the common model if it didn’t work sometimes. It’s not ideal at scale, but it works with certain services and tasks. When you’re just getting started, it’s an easy way to bring in income with limited resources. They need a fix and you’re there for a weekend.

As your team builds up, break-fix becomes less effective. You have far more resources and the spikes in utilization become rounded out with averages for spikes in labor. As your MSP thrives, the rough weekends largely disappear and the stress becomes constant but predictable. As you scale, your problems become more logistical rather than existential.

That said, there are still plenty of use cases where the logistics or pricing just doesn’t make sense for a service proper. You may be supporting something which is extremely unpredictable and extremely uncommon to the point customers are upset paying for it. Other offerings just don’t work as a service which a business can justify unless it’s one of their core competencies.

The break-fix methodology should be removed from your core offerings, but it’s fine to have some of these offerings as a way to offload certain tasks. If you do cabling, it really wouldn’t make sense as an independent service since 90% or more of what will ever be done at most businesses is done in the first month (most places don’t go back and upgrade until they absolutely have to, which can be literally decades). The appeal of a service is to reduce the perceived cost, but who would subscribe to a service they’ll never use more than once unless they have to?

Reframing SLAs

We mentioned cabling and similar, but most MSPs will round these tasks into part of the onboarding service (within reason). You may not be able to sell something as a separate service, but you can offer a break-fix solution and a tier which rounds in some amount into your main service. Not everyone will bite, but the ones who do are now paying more for something that already happened and the promise to keep it maintained.

Your SLA (Service Level Agreement) with a client impacts what you are expected to do and what is expected of you. While these two concepts should be the same, they can end up as not depending on how your client understands technology. The more things which are out of the scope of a contract, the more likely a client is to feel they’re being nickel and dimed out of money.

How can you package things into a service so they only need to come up once during the sales process? Sell them once and offer ways to buy up as they see just how expensive ad-hoc really is. Done right, you’re rewarding your business and your client for you doing things right the first time. They get everything done the right way from day one and a lot more work for the cost of the first few months, and you get paid to make sure new changes don’t break anything once you set everything up.

With this move comes the need to level up how you handle your business process so that it can scale with what you sell. B2B sales cost more time and effort to get going, but end up with greater potential. Save yourself the headache of a client being angry they have to pay more and just charge from the get-go. As long as both parties understand and agree, it’s a net win for everyone.

Moving Past Break/Fix

Some clients aren’t going to want to sign new contracts or change how they do business. If you’ve been doing break-fix for a while, these clients only pop up when they need new machines onboarded or in the event of emergencies. The expected income for these clients plummets drastically. On the flip side, there is also an opportunity in these scenarios.

Break-fix costs more as you scale. You need to have the resources and logistics to properly handle the ebbs and flows in the labor and it can even end up costing money in certain periods. You may even be contractually unable to take new clients because you’re stuck handling a one-off problem for a break-fix client that is eating all of your bandwidth. If you don’t have an explicit contract for the price, price yourself out. This either gets you out of doing the less predictable work (freeing you up for more favorable contracts), gets someone throwing money at the problem making it worth the extra hassle, or it can even be a price anchor for contract upsells.

Don’t violate your contract or what you’re expected to do, but do make it clear you prefer service based pricing. It works out better for both parties and can even be worth giving previous clients a discount to get them moved over.

Make your new contracts focus on service delivery. Market based on the fact the clients don’t need to worry. Highlight the mundane aspects and turn them into points of safety and security. This type of marketing is harder, but the right drip campaign and the right tactics mean it just takes time and effort to win the right contracts. Let your customer rest well knowing you’ll be there to help them and that you’ll continue to get an income that justifies putting all of the hard work forward from the first onboarding.

Scaling Past Break-Fix

Once you start moving away from break-fix, you’ll probably feel some pressure in the beginning with onboardings which quickly goes away as the site is squared away. In the beginning, you need to control the rate you’re onboarding new clients to make sure each gets the right experience. It pays dividends to measure twice and cut once with new onboardings so the client is happy and you barely need to do anything to continue supporting them from an infrastructure level.

Break-fix is too unpredictable to properly scale. As you grow, it becomes untenable as you either need to keep onboarding or need to hope that clients continue to have work. Either pattern is untenable versus income which is no longer tied to the raw hours you need to put out.

What are you doing to grow and scale your business from the model it started with? How are you removing break-fix patterns or leveraging the ones which can’t be changed? There are going to be things you do which clients need which don’t make sense as standalone services, but you need to know what they are and why it’s true. As your sales go from transactional exchanges of time and expertise for money into a service, the value and security of a contract goes up for both you and your prospective client.

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. Contact us to learn more about what The 20 does and how we can help your MSP achieve monumental revenue generation and unprecedented profitability and growth.