Managed Service Providers have come a long way in the last decade. Overcoming and mastering the impact of cloud computing on their customers and services. Subsequently, dealing with the challenge of SaaS disruptors and the transition away from on-premise toolchains. In 2024, the market is shaped by three significant major forces:
Increased customer expectations. As cloud and platform services have become easier to adopt, the value of a managed service wrap has shifted. Customers expect outcome driven services, with suppliers taking a stake in their success. In verticals, industry-specific trends can shape customer expectations. Are you dealing with government, for example? Have you noticed a shift towards multi-cloud? Or can you see SMEs becoming more security conscious as they support more remote workers?
Increased choice. Tech stacks are increasingly ephemeral, with software driven designs that provision and configure infrastructure as part of standard patterns. The lock-in effect experienced by customers last decade has been steadily eroded. The ‘cloud effect’ is shaping consumer demand. Are you noticing your customers becoming more aware of the different choices in the market? That Microsoft or AWS isn’t the only show in town?
Commoditisation. A tech trend that continually erodes the value of all services, even more now in the age of disruptors. It takes active effort to continually ‘sharpen the saw’ to avoid being impacted. Remember when you provided VMs as a service? Or when Kubernetes was introduced as a leading-edge development platform? Advances in technology are more quickly displacing legacy solutions, and 2024 will not see the pace of change get any slower.
These 3 major forces shape our industry, our customers’ behaviour, and the competitive marketplace. They map out new horizons, allowing new leaders to emerge as they navigate the choppy waters. But how do you respond?
Positioning
Successful business strategies are created in response to these forces. By understanding your target market, industry trends and Ideal Customer Profile – you will be able to keep ahead of customer expectations .. and in fact, shape them. By keeping abreast of the constant change in the tech sector, you can lead your customers through the labyrinth of choices. The complexity of technology facing consumers now is more complex than ever before. But so are the opportunities to simplify and enable consumer businesses.
Will 2024 be the year of the MSP? Let’s find out together.