Nerdio’s VP of MSP Sales, Will Ominsky, recently spoke with Channel Insider about how the company’s MSPs are bringing their expertise to clients as many grapple with device refreshes amid an ongoing uncertain economic climate.
Tariff considerations impacting device refresh plans: what Nerdio partners are seeing in market
Ominsky and his sales organization speak regularly with Nerdio’s thousands of partners worldwide. Through those conversations, Ominsky says, a few key trends are emerging as ongoing tariff policy causes uncertainty in the market.
“Things are changing every single day, and that puts a lot of fear out there, whether there will be immediate impact to a business or not,” Ominsky said. “We’ve heard from our partners that certain customers in particular verticals are already making changes to their plans for the rest of the year, and that trickles down to MSPs. If your customer cuts budget or pulls back, you have to rethink how you engage.”
The broader economic uncertainties tied to international tariffs and other domestic policies are intersecting with another market disruptor: the impending device refresh cycle as Windows 10 marks its end-of-life milestone later this year. For Nerdio’s MSPs, lingering doubts about the availability and pricing of devices not yet provisioned are an opportunity to advise clients on what might come next.
“Where we see our partners being successful is when they ask, ‘why do you want to do things differently’ and then work with the customer to drill down into the business problems and address those core issues,” Ominsky said.
Here, Ominsky says, is where MSPs can take technical conversations around virtual desktops into the “real world” and shape conversations around addressing the needs of their customers. Approaching customers with an education-first approach, starting with information rather than a sales pitch, will build a deeper trust that the MSP cares about the success of their business and wants to see them succeed, Ominsky emphasizes.
How MSPs can position Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 as a solution to current and future problems
Nerdio has bet big on the future of virtualization and cloud desktops, as evidenced by the solution offerings unveiled at its annual conference in April. Ominsky says the company works closely with MSPs every day to ensure they have a thorough understanding of these products, enabling them to effectively demonstrate their business value to customers.
“We see AVD and Windows 365 as the better delivery model for experiences that all customers are used to,” Ominsky said. “Everyone is familiar with the concept of a desktop, so what partners need to understand and relay to customers is that the experience doesn’t change; they are just now delivering desktops from the cloud.”
To many proponents of the technology, virtual desktops preserve the end-user experience while reducing long-term hardware costs and increasing flexibility.
Of course, Nerdio’s platform is built to enable MSPs to provide services around Microsoft’s vast array of offerings at scale, and Ominsky says the company is committed to ensuring the tech stack of the future is attainable.
“I don’t care how much better a solution is, if it is 5 times the cost, it’s never going to be worth it,” Ominsky said. “MSPs need to show their customers the total cost and potential savings over time for going with virtual desktops over traditional hardware. Every customer is going to be different, but partners can guide them through the process of assessing that.”
Nerdio’s enablement resources include training for partners on the power of presenting multiple options to customers now, even if they seem set on sticking with hardware. Ominsky encourages all MSPs to demo virtual desktops with their customers while also respecting their interest in more traditional approaches to the refresh cycle.
“What this does, and what we’re hearing from partners having these conversations, is that even if customers pick the hardware option in this moment, if we see problems emerge over the next few months, MSPs have a way to say ‘remember this alternative we discussed?’ and guide customers,” Ominsky said.
Reinventing the MSP playbook: embracing change in 2025
As customers continue to seek advice and expertise from partners on leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and stay ahead of the modern threat landscape, MSPs should also consider how their internal processes can be updated and refined.
“It’s an exciting time right now for MSPs to rethink the traditional ways of doing things. The really successful MSPs are questioning why they do things the way they do, why they utilize all the technology they do, and examine everything from SLAs to their current tech stacks,” Ominsky said. “Don’t just keep doing it all a certain way because that’s how you always have.”
Nerdio’s partner community is vast and varied, but all are focused on meeting the needs of their customers while scaling efficiently. Revisit how partners described their relationship with Nerdio in our coverage from NerdioCon in April.