The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption worldwide of a “ technology first ” mindset among small- to medium-size businesses ( SMBs ). It made distributed and remote working practices mainstream and forced brick-and-mortar stores to use technology creatively to stay in business .
These changes were on the horizon , but the pandemic forced adoption of new technologies and techniques much quicker than experts had predicted just months earlier .
To be a “ technology first ” company means that a business uses technology as their most important competitive differentiator and asset . It ’ s a term used when the next incremental dollar of a business is allocated to technology investment over everything else , including marketing , personnel , and financing . Technology is king , and everything else is secondary .
For the MSPs that support this new breed of SMBs , this has meant a new way of working all while evaluating their service offerings and tech stacks .
During his recent keynote at Kaseya ’ s Connect IT Global conference in Las Vegas , Fred Voccola , CEO of Kaseya , said , “ Technology for small- to medium-size businesses was already in the midst of a massive change . But then the pandemic afforded no choice , accelerating the shift to dependence on technology into overdrive .”
That ’ s not hyperbole . Think back to the spring and summer of 2020 . Without notice , every SMB was forced to adjust — or face
Solving The 4 Unprecedented Challenges MSPs Face Today
ruin . And not in a small way . If you ’ re running a restaurant or bar , you immediately had to adopt online ordering and delivery . What about gyms ? They had to learn how to conduct workout classes online . Law firms and CPAs had to use Zoom with their clients .
All those changes required massive IT , security , and technology investments . Today , all those advanced technology-centric business functions used to survive are now being used to augment and add onto previous business practices .
Fred continued , “ Today , there ’ s no mistaking that technology is now first . What that means to every MSP and IT professional is that we are all in the right place at the right time . There has never been a better time to be doing what we are all doing .”
Great Opportunities Bring Great Challenges
Now that SMBs have reached that “ technology first ” threshold , the rapid change in business technology accentuates and accelerates four critical challenges for MSPs .
CHALLENGE 1 :
Unprecedented Volume
We ’ ve all recently experienced a tidal wave of sheer volume . The amount of new technology , software kits , vendor relationships , and workload a technician must manage has increased to the point of becoming overwhelming . Because your clients have adopted this “ technology first ” mindset , vendors are pushing so many more tech solutions .
“ Seventy-two percent of MSPs complain of vendor fatigue . There are just too many vendors to work with . But if you choose not to have a complete software kit to address your IT infrastructure and security needs , you will have gaps in your IT infrastructure . You ’ ll be behind ,” Fred said .
CHALLENGE 2 : Needs Outweigh Budgets
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The numbers don ’ t lie :
� 91 % of owners of SMBs expect to substantially increase their tech spending over the next three years .