Defining MSPs' Goals, Challenges and Tools
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Defining MSPs' Goals, Challenges and Tools
Most MSPs are aligned with the IT industry's trend toward specialization and are developing expertise in verticals to provide optimized solutions for customers. -
Demographics
The majority of MSPs are between the ages of 35 and 54 (59%), male (86%) and college-educated (82%). -
Money Makers
27% of MSP businesses have 100+ clients, and 21% report more than $5 million in annual revenue. -
Specialization Rules
64% of MSPs focus their business efforts on a specific vertical or verticals. Top targets are professional services, manufacturing/construction and healthcare. -
Top Methods for Evaluating New Products and Services
Googling: 67%, Referral by colleague: 49%, Tradeshows and events: 38%, Industry forums: 37% -
Staying Ahead of Trends
53% of the survey respondents use technology websites as their go-to source for industry trends, followed by industry peers (24%), and tradeshows and conferences (23%). -
Biggest Pain Points
Marketing and sales efforts: 26%, Selling backup and disaster recovery (DR): 18%, Staffing and training efforts: 17%, Growing pains: 16%, Ransomware/cyber-security: 14%, Vendors and technology: 12% -
Top MSP Sales and Marketing Challenges
Lead generation. Sales talent and growth. Qualifying prospects. Increased local competition. -
Backup and DR Sales Hurdles
Pricing objections and declining budgets. Educating SMBs. Qualifying leads. Getting an initial appointment. Overcoming competition -
Staffing Issues
The MSPs surveyed cited recruitment of technical, sales and marketing talent as their biggest staffing challenge, followed by worker training and employee retention. -
Growing Pains
MSPs reported a lack of time and resources as their biggest growth challenge, followed by operational efficiency, standardization of policies and services, delegating to manage growth and mergers & acquisitions.
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Defining MSPs' Goals, Challenges and Tools 
Why Metrics Matter to the Channel Did you know that most IT service professionals who work at managed service providers prefer Star Wars (66 percent) to Star Trek (17 percent)? The majority of MSPs also log into social media networks daily, with Facebook and LinkedIn as the most visited sites. While these are fun facts about a typical MSP's life outside of the office, Datto's "2017 State of the MSP Report," which surveyed 1,200 managed service providers, reveals their biggest challenges and pain points, along with how they stay current on industry trends, new products and technologies. The survey finds that most MSPs, like other areas of the channel, are aligned with the IT industry's trend toward specialization and are developing expertise in specific verticals to provide optimized solutions for their customers. The report is all-inclusive, covering everything from education to digital news consumption and business resources. It also provides links to resources and solutions for mitigating the MSP's biggest pain points. Here are 10 revealing stats from the report.