XChange MSP: Diversifying revenues, business needs and sustainability dominate the agenda

Key priorities for MSPs in 2024, changing customer communications and sustainability were just some of the topics discussed at XChange MSP

CRN's Xchange MSP, the premier networking event for managed service providers wrapped at The May Fair hotel in London yesterday.

The event played host to discussions around diversifying income streams for MSPs, the growth of cybersecurity responsibilities, changing business models in response to the climate crisis and the value of open-source software.

MSP priorities for 2024

The day opened with a panel looking out at 2024 and the changing role of the MSP in this landscape.

"What we've seen over the last 12 months, because of the economic climate, is that organisations are a lot more cautious with spend, particularly on new solutions, and approvals are taking a lot longer, which is obviously hitting the sell side. The other thing we're starting to see is customers not wanting to sign new agreements. Therefore, the number of 3-5-year contracts is coming under pressure," commented channel vet Steve Ellis, director of HELM Capital and MD at EGC Ltd.

The sentiment was echoed by fellow panellists David Tulip, MD at Network Group and Technology to Go and Wesley Worland, chief delivery officer at Trustmarque.

At a time when organisations are increasingly looking to emerging tech, particularly in AI and cybersecurity, to optimise their operations, the route to establishing strong relationships with customers is through business need, Worland stated, with some of the most interesting work being done across public sector organisations.

"Last year, we found ourselves building teams around security. We're finding ourselves doing a lot of penetration testing and building a team around Sentinel for instance. This year, for us, is very much around data and business applications.

"I'll use public sector just as an example. If you look at the freedom they now have to create low-code applications all across their estate, it's unbelievable. But this often means that these are apps created by one person, there's no support function, no data governance.

"So we're finding ourselves doing a lot of education, talking about building technical communities and supporting local councils, NHS trusts, small finance houses, to be able to create that function and to really communicate the value of those support functions to management teams."

The danger of a two-tier system for MSPs

Regulatory changes featured prominently among the list of priorities, with Tulip stating: "Based on what we're seeing across our community of companies, I think what's interesting right now is regulation for MSPs.

"At the moment, any individual can decide right now, today, they're an MSP. That doesn't necessarily make us a good MSP. We see those regulations start to come through from the government, so what will this mean for MSPs?

"This is something that we're working on here at Network Group that I find quite exciting, because I think there's a danger of a two-tier market being created - those that are accredited and of a certain size, vs the rest. As a group we're working on that, working around available frameworks.

"We're not trying to recreate the wheel as such, but we do need to self-regulate to a degree and raise the bar. So, rather than coalface, I'm talking about a collective of MSPs driving this forward."

The importance of ICT sustainability

John Booth, managing director of sustainable IT consultancy Carbon3IT, highlighted the growing emergency of climate change and the role that MSPs and IT companies more broadly can play in growing the sustainability of the industry.

"We have the growth of the FAANGs, we've got the growth of the internet and an explosion in datacentre footprint. Datacentres and networks account for 69% of the overall carbon footprint of the UK IT industry," Booth outlined.

"Notebooks, desktops and smartphones, the second highest culprit, account for only 11 per cent. So quite rightly, there is a lot of pressure on datacentres to reduce their energy consumption. But at the same time, we have this huge growth in the amount of datacentres."

During his presentation, he highlighted the contribution of e-waste on the IT industry's carbon footprint and highlighted the importance of MSPs in pushing for a change in how customers deal with electronic waste.

Booth, whose firm works in consultation with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, urged MSPs at the conference to expect and prepare for government intervention, but equally, to work together as an industry to push for more sustainable infrastructure and better end-user practices.