MSPs are set for 'durable, long-term, double-digit growth': N-able CEO John Pagliuca
Following the release of its inaugural report for the managed services market, Pagliuca chats to CRN about what’s making MSPs tick
Managed services providers are buckled in for unstoppable growth and would rather continue to flourish than sell.
According to N-able's recent MSP Horizons report, MSPs are on a solid growth trajectory, with 97 per cent of those surveyed citing managed services revenue growth this year.
To find out more about what's impacting MSPs, CRN spoke with N-able president and CEO John Pagliuca.
"When we looked at the survey it was no surprise to see some were gaining traction. But it was surprising how much traction," Pagliuca told CRN.
"But if you take a step back, you'll see it makes a lot of sense."
He explains the MSP community sits at the intersection of three or four major global trends: moving to cloud, cybersecurity compliance and regulation, the hybrid model and the skills shortage.
"When you take the confluence of those four major macro trends, the MSP community sits square in the middle. What we're seeing is those trends impact not just the small medium enterprise (SME), but also the mid market and the MSP community.
"Because of those four trends MSPs are presented with an opportunity to help.
"MSPs are finding that larger and larger organisations need help and they're now turning to MSPs to do this co-managed part.
"Co-managed creates a huge opportunity for MSPs because mid market IT are having IT labour shortages and are looking for the cybersecurity specialists."
To sell or not to sell
As part of the survey of 354 business-to-business channel partners across EMEA, North America, APAC, and Latin America conducted from October to November 2023, MSPs were quizzed on whether or not they wanted to sell in 2024.
"The answer was a resounding no," he says.
"My interpretation of that is, in classic Wall Street or economics language you never want to sell low or buy high. You want to sell high."
MSPs are apparently pretty confident about the future owing to macro trends, and believe they can grow their business.
"They're quite optimistic about the short-term and long-term health of their business and where they're going. It also tells me that MSPs are beginning to have some fun out there growing their business and being that trusted advisor for their customers.
"That if nothing else is a strong indicator of the health of the channel, when the vast majority of these customers are saying they don't want to exit.
"I really do believe the industry is set for durable, long-term, double-digit growth. Because of the rate technology continues to keep changing, that's not the SMEs' bag and they always will need help."
Continue reading to find out what N-able's CEO thinks MSPs should be prioritising...
Highlights