CompTIA's Trends In Managed Services Study: Organizations Are Making More Use Of MSP Services
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Awareness and adoption of managed services, particularly for information technology (IT) needs, is on the upswing, according to the latest research from CompTIA.
The 4th Annual Trends in Managed Services Study found more than two-thirds of the companies surveyed had used the services of an outside IT firm in the past year. The study also found organizations with fewer than 100 employees were more than twice as likely to outsource their IT needs to an MSP (managed services provider) than to larger organizations.
Carolyn April, senior director, industry analysis, CompTIA, stated in a press release, “There is a much higher degree of familiarity with the term ‘managed services’ and greater adoption.” Slightly more than half of respondents (51 percent) stated that they were ‘very familiar’ with the concept of managed services, while another 40 percent say they are ‘somewhat familiar’.
But April explains despite upward momentum, the market still needs an accepted definition of what managed services constitute — a definition upon which both customers and providers can agree. “The definitional issue is an enormous one,” she says. “That’s one of the reasons why it’s been so difficult to get a market size and adoption rates.”
And also despite momentum in usage, most companies utilize an MSP only for a singular or a few applications, such as email hosting, customer relationship management (CRM) applications, storage, backup and recovery and network monitoring. “At the higher end, some are using an MSP for data analytics, business intelligence, and advanced application monitoring,” April notes.
The report also states about 60 percent of those surveyed say that their managed services engagement is a collaborative arrangement with their internal IT departments, and almost 40 percent of those surveyed say their current IT management methods are working just fine — this leaves 60 percent that are still looking for some type of improvement. “This is an opening for MSPs to expose potential customers to the benefits of managed services or deepen relationships with existing customers,” April advises.
According to the study data, MSPs should focus their sales pitch on the factors that are driving end users’ decisions to use managed services, such as improving operational efficiency and IT reliability; enhancing security and compliance; and taking a more proactive approach to IT maintenance and upgrades.