February 8, 2023
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As we get deeper into 2023, the trends that are going to guide us through the year are starting to solidify. We’ve been tracking these trends as they develop and have noticed some interesting things.
The big obvious trend is AI, particularly since the release of ChatGPT3. This is going to help define the industry (many industries, in fact), but is still in the early stages. There have been a lot of good examples out there, but also a lot of cautionary tales. It’s still too early to tell how this is going to help managed services providers. Beyond that, however, here’s what we see being the main focus over the next 12 months.
Key trends IT service trends
We often see a shift in both the kinds of services that people are looking for and specific approaches to providing those services. These trends are often the result of what cybercriminals are doing and how the industry is responding.
The rise of observability
Monitoring networks and systems has long been a part of the MSP world. It’s a service that often sits at the core of what we do. In recent years, there’s been a shift towards observability over simply monitoring. These may seem like similar things (and they kind of are), but observability tends to be more proactive, where monitoring is reactive. What this means, among other things, is that you’re not just watching and waiting for a problem to arise, you’re keeping your eyes out for specific problems and have solutions ready to go.
Observability gives you a way to watch your entire network, while also showing you how everything interacts with each other.
Back it up
There will never be a year that data recovery, disaster preparedness, and recovery services won’t be critical. 2023 will be no different. Cyberattacks are at (yet another) all-time high and we’re seeing massive natural disasters around the world. To keep your business operational and your customer’s data safe, you need a robust backup and recovery program.
Increasingly, we’re seeing a demand for cyber recovery-as-a-service, which captures snapshots of data in a very regular interval (like every 90 seconds). This gives companies the ability to restore from very specific moments, like just before a data breach, to avoid having to either pay or lose their data.
Security
Similar to backups, there’s always a strong need for security, especially as more and more organizations are storing sensitive data in the cloud. As we mentioned above, last year was another all-time high for cyberattacks. This means that the need for more intelligent security is also at an all-time high.
What this means isn’t that you need better security, per se, or even more security. What you need are systems that can tell the difference between a human that’s forgotten their password and an attempted breach. As cybercriminals use increasingly more complex methods of attack, organizations need to keep pace, rather than rely on things that worked two years ago.
Cost reduction
This one shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Along with always being a consideration for tech companies, we’re in something of a recession. Companies are laying off huge chunks of their workforce and looking to save money any way they can.
What you need to be careful of, however, is laying off the people who are responsible for keeping your critical infrastructure operational and protected. Because you can’t afford to have anything happen to your tech, you need people to manage it, recession or not. MSPs are well-positioned to help companies in this regard as we’re often cheaper than the salary of any one person on your team.
Automation
This trend has been sitting near the top of the pile for a few years now and it’s not going away any time soon. Using automation to remove unnecessary, time-consuming manual processes is growing in popularity across all industries. The biggest advantage is that it removes the need for humans to waste time and money doing things like cutting and pasting information or managing spreadsheets. Automations take care of these processes (and more) to allow employees to focus on the deep, meaningful work they do best.
Outsourcing being the way out etc.
Outsourcing
MSPs cost about the same as hiring one employee, but instead of a single person, you’re effectively hiring a whole team who bring years (if not decades) of experience. You’re getting more value per dollar spent than with hiring. If you’ve already got a team in-house, you can use outsourcing as a way to get a second team to supplement the first or focus on tasks that they don’t have time for.
Want to get ahead of the trends?
If you’re looking to take advantage of these trends to upgrade and manage your technical infrastructure let’s talk. Our experts have more than 20 years experience helping businesses in a variety of industries implement cutting-edge solutions that keep their data safe and their businesses running. Contact us today to learn more.
