N-able CEO Sees Headwinds and Tailwinds Ahead for MSPs

Digital transformation, chiefly in the form of migration to the cloud at present, is one of three key tailwinds Pagliuca identified. Analysys Mason expects global spending by SMBs on cloud services and solutions to reach $1 trillion by 2027, he noted. MSPs are ideally positioned to cash in on that gold rush provided they have a clear understanding of where customers are in their adoption journey and a specific plan for assisting customers with their biggest cloud-related needs.

“The opportunity is in front of you, and you need to be deliberate and you need to be explicit,” Pagliuca said. “If you’re not explicit about what’s going on in your customer base, you’re leaving the door open for somebody else to provide the service.”

Tailwind number two—security—requires an equally focused approach, he continued. SMBs worldwide will increase security outlays 14% a year between 2021 and 2026, according to Analysys Mason, in response to an increasingly treacherous threat landscape. MSPs who make implementing a complete stack of security measures a mandate for customers rather than an option, Pagliuca contends, stand to benefit from that greater spending while dodging the worst of those mounting risks.

“Security has gone from a sell to a tell,” he observed.

Labor scarcity, the third phenomenon he discussed, is actually headwind for everyone except MSPs. Seen one way, today’s brutal hiring climate makes sustaining growth difficult for businesses of every description. Seen another, though, it makes hiring an MSP more attractive even for organizations large enough to have an IT staff with endlessly open positions.

“Labor scarcity is a tailwind,” Pagliuca said. “Leverage it the right way. Embrace it. Figure out how you can monetize it.”