The managed services market is exploding and one of the
first signs to show the good news is a huge uptick in remote monitoring and
management (RMM) software and managed service platforms for managed service
providers (MSPs).
This week both Connectwise and N-able Technologies touted
its success with MSPs, throwing open their kimonos on 2011 numbers. Connectwise
reports that it has added 55 employees this year and broke the 55,000 user mark
for its professional services automation (PSA) software. Meanwhile, RMM
developer N-able says that so far this year the number of small businesses
managed by the MSP partner base using its software has grown by almost 150
percent, from 22,000 to 47,000.
Meanwhile, "Over
the last 18 months, N-able's global MSP partner base has experienced
unprecedented growth in both new and incremental business using many of the
best practices, tools and technologies we've pioneered and continue to bring to
market," says Gavin Garbutt, CEO, N-able Technologies.
Of course, it is up for debate whether these MSPs would have
grown regardless of a specific vendor, but the thirst for some type of toolset
to help MSPs manage systems and their businesses has been all but insatiable
from providers in recent years--particularly from free or freemium type
vendors. For example, in the five years that it's been in business Spiceworks
has built up its MSP user base to over 65,000 with its free RMM tools.
It isn't just the RMM and PSA vendors that are heralding MSP
momentum build-up in 2011, either. Recently, analysts with Insight Research
Group predicted that the managed services market would experience double-digit
growth through the next four years. Insight believes that the U.S. managed
services market will balloon from $29 billion in 2010 to $47 billion in 2015,
racking up sales at a 12 percent annual growth rate.
Meanwhile, analysts with Visiongain recently released a
report that says it believes the global MSP market will reach $86 billion by 2016,
from an estimated size of $55 billion in 2010.
However, all that growth won't come without some
uncomfortable adjustments. According to Charles Weaver, CEO of MSPAlliance,
service providers are going to need to learn to change their services to adjust
to the shifting technology demands of their customers.
"The natural market adjustments that occur do force
service providers to make changes to their service offerings," Weaver
wrote recently. "These adjustments will continue to happen and MSPs must
continue to change and adapt in order to survive.”
Managed Services 
