Print.IT Reseller - issue 63

the model works so well and why MSP right now is seeing the growth it is. If a MSP is wise and can work with a vendor that has multiple layers of security, they’re able to build out an offering which perhaps includes many layers across many end-users. If they work with a vendor that allows them to streamline their operations, so it integrates with other products without human intervention, there is one single place to go to, to do a whole bunch of monitoring and managing of that solution or of those products. It means they can then afford to go to their small customers for a relatively inexpensive monthly fee, which a small business can afford and sustain. For us as a vendor to be able to offer a model to MSPs, which they can replicate to their customers, allows them to be successful. We believe however you choose to consume, it’s our job to make that as simple as possible, and as available as possible to MSPs, as that allows them to then pass it on to their end-users. Regardless of need, size etc., Barracuda MSP can provide that solution. PITR: Cybercrime continues to evolve at a rapid pace, how can MSPs ensure their customers remain protected? JH: In the world that we have today, with cybercrime, those guys are extremely intelligent and evolving at a rapid pace. We, as a vendor, have to keep up with that and try and get ahead of that, and we have to offer those layers. A small MSP without a huge amount of resource can start getting involved with us because we can offer a fully managed PhishLine, a service that helps MSPs provide sophisticated phishing simulation and security awareness training to their customers without creating added work for their techs. This makes it easy for a MSP to create a new service that addresses the growing need for better security awareness training. They don’t need an engineer building out email simulations to send out to organisations to see who needs educating on it or not. We do all that for them. For a very simple monthly fee, they can jump on board with Barracuda and tell their customers about it, and I can guarantee PITR: What’s attracting MSPs to partner with Barracuda? JH: For us to be able to build a stack of products that will help protect end-users, managed by a service provider has been phenomenal. It’s actually what’s helping us recruit so many new partners into the Barracuda portfolio. There are several layers, and I think that’s important. It’s not ok to just drop antivirus into your network, and feel you’re protected. There are a lot of small businesses that don’t have an IT department, or technical resources. It’s very expensive to get that kind of resource and that capability into your business, so people are turning to MSPs because they’ve thought that stuff out, built the solutions out, so for a smaller, monthly fee, you can now go and get enterprise-level protection. That’s why INTERVIEW 01732 759725 26 ...continued Shining a light on the evolving landscape Barracuda’s EMEA team hosted the second annual MSP Day on May 23. MSP Day was created in 2018 as a way to help create an interactive and connected community with the unified purpose of making managed services more understandable, trustworthy and significant. This year’s event also coincided with the release of the results of the company’s Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business Report 2019 . Key findings include: n Managed services is the number one revenue opportunity, bigger than all others combined: 54 per cent of channel partners say it offers the greatest potential revenue; almost x4 times as many as the next largest response n The confidence in managed services market is increasing: As in 2018, managed services beat cloud computing and professional services by a margin of 4 to 3. In this year’s survey, it was 4 to 1 n Managed services revenue is growing as a proportion of overall sales: Around half (52 per cent) of respondents made more than 30 per cent of their revenue from managed services in 2018, growing to two-thirds (66 per cent) in 2019 n MSPs are aware of the risk of customer switching: While price and budget pressure are (unsurprisingly) major factors, the biggest reason customers cancel contracts is ‘being acquired by another company’ (55 per cent) n Lack of internal IT skills is now the main catalyst for MSP demand: 69 per cent of partners said customer skills shortages were the key driver for managed services uptake, while 61 per cent cited cloud migration. This differs from 2018’s findings, where the desire to reduce capex and other costs (65 per cent) was the top reason behind managed services use n Customer relationships remain key to managed services sales success: 86 per cent believe this is a major opportunity in selling managed services; around two-thirds said the same about ‘overall security concerns’ and ‘lack of in-house IT skills’, respectively n Customer misconceptions still undermine managed service offerings. This was identified as a barrier by the largest group of channel partners (89 per cent). It also led the way last year Overall these findings paint a promising landscape when it comes to growth, understanding and adoption of managed services, albeit in the face of many barriers that are proving to fuel mistrust and frustrating misconceptions. Independent IT analyst Clive Longbottom said that the findings show that the MSP market is thriving – albeit still with certain pressures. “On the buying side, there is still an abiding problem with misconceptions on what to expect from managed services. The selling side are seemingly ill-prepared to deal with this. “This is leading to higher rates of customer defection (either to competitors or with services being taken back in house) than should be the case. It’s apparent we’re now moving past the first stage of the MSP. Although shrink- wrapped, stand-alone services such as backup and restore are still popular, the savvy MSP is seeing that added value extra services offered to meet customers’ needs in an increasingly complex hybrid cloud world are becoming a necessity,” he commented.