Business Speak

Peter Kujawa, VP for Service Leadership at ConnectWise, discussed the latest data on MSPs and VARs, highlighting that organic revenue growth for MSPs has slowed to 10.8% from a peak of 25% post-COVID. Despite this, profitability has improved to 13% due to better gross margins. Kujawa emphasized the importance of MSPs not panicking and continuing to invest in sales and marketing. He also noted the influx of private equity into the MSP space, offering MSP owners more options for selling their businesses. Kujawa advised MSP owners to engage with multiple buyers and plan well in advance for a successful sale.

ConnectWise Service Leadership and Branding Decisions

In the final analysis, it’s about personal preferences and I look forward to your feedback as an SMB Nation member. When it comes to urban vs rural lifestyle and business models, both answers are right.

At a high-level – my AI-based Google research returned to following “ urban areas being more populated and having more amenities, while rural areas offer more privacy and lower costs of living:”  True that!

Rural

My experience has been that many rural MSPs run lifestyle businesses. Nothing like going fishing on Fridays with (perhaps with a client).It tends to be more relaxing than urban living.

Dramatic improvements in remote work/support

I have an interesting industry observation I’d like to share with you. Why is that the most successful MSPs in our space attend the fewest events? Conversely, less successful MSPs attend too many events. Let me assert my argument.

Successful MSPs

I won’t name names but here we go.

Mid-west MSP: This gentleman goes back to the start of SBS. We met on the partner advisory council in 1998. We were all young and dumb but several elevated in our community. He used to attend the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) (which then became Inspire) as his annual event.

The amazing sweepstakes contest has launched. Let's cut to the chase! 

Here is the basic story and you can click through (at the bottomw to join the sweepstakes. 

Are you a Managed Service Provider (MSP) with a passion for driving technology transformation? Here’s your chance to make a significant impact on a local small or medium-sized business (SMB) in your area while boosting your own capabilities!

Acer is excited to announce the Technology Transformation Sweepstakes, running from September 18, 2024, to November 19, 2024. The winning MSP will receive cutting-edge Acer equipment and a $5,000 cash prize to help a deserving SMB take their technology to the next level. This is not just a contest—it’s an opportunity to showcase your skills, support your community, and grow your business.

Let’s keep is simple. Our popular one-day workshop, MSP Rescue, is coming to the Microsoft office/event center in Irvine just in time for back to school. This is a professional one-day “continuing education” gathering for MSPs, channel partners, resellers and VARs etc. Our popular format is all panels (no PowerPoint slides).

Harry Brelsford and Caroline Goles discussed their plans for beyond 2024, focusing on growth strategies and marketplace expansion. Caroline highlighted the addition of 20 plus new vendors, expanded categories, and marketplace enhancements to help partners grow. Harry inquired about entering the crowded hardware distribution field, while Caroline emphasized Europe expansion and marketplace mode for 2024. Both stressed the importance of AI capabilities, lifecycle management, and connecting vendors with MSPs to grow their SMB footprint.

No longer does our industry take summers off! Post-pandemic, events are back and have multiplied. In this piece, I share a few nuggets but more importantly I point you to two industry calendars so you can conduct your own research! The two events I’m highlighting below are multi-day events. Use the two calendars below to search for one-day events such as ChannelPro and ASCII events.

My two shout outs are:

No visit to IT Nation 2023 would be complete without speaking to a ConnectWise C-Level executive - and that exactly what I did! Boston-based Geoffrey Willison, is the Chief Customer Officer. It's a tought job in any company including ConnectWise.Listen to our podcast - always important to track what the Big Dogs are doing! 

A busy CEO, Mike Psenka of Moovila chattedwith us at the recent IT Nation 2023 event. I immedialy liked what they are doing for Managed Services Providers (MSPs) with a project and work management platform. This start up in the managed services space is one to watch! 

Listen to the podcast - the link is below. 

Ryan Walsh recently spoke with us about Pax8, a fast growing technology marketplace. Here are the highlights:

• Community-led growth in the tech industry
• The evolution of the IT industry and the importance of attach services
• Upcoming product releases and partnerships
• Data-driven insights and conference planning

Recently we sat down with Kam Kaila, President and Community Officer, IT by Design and we did one of our podcasts!

The high-level topics included:

• Leadership development and talent management for MSPs
• Leadership development in the MSP industry
• Leadership training for the channel
• Leadership styles, personality, and communication
• MSP support, software, and team management

The SMB Nation community has done it once (New Orleans – Hurricane Katrina) and we’ve done it twice (Houston – Hurricane Harvey). It’s time to dispatch the MSP Navy with resources to help long-time SMB Nation member Ulrich Kirkegaard. He has lost everything this week including his home and business in Lahaina, Maui.

Kirkegaard shared the following with me in an email exchange earlier today.