Kaseya’s Datto Global State of the MSP Report has been released, and the report lists that 35 percent of revenues generated by those surveyed were by break-fix and project-based services, up from 24 percent a year earlier. Datto flagged the increase in break-fix revenue as the report’s “most surprising finding.”
“Break-fix is back. It has re-emerged as co-managed services, which enables MSPs to get a foot in the door with larger business by focusing on a specific IT challenge,” Datto stated.
Cloud-based infrastructure design and management was the top product or service offered (83 percent), followed by office productivity software (83 percent), BCDR (79 percent), networking (79 percent), and technical support/helpdesk (77 percent).
The report has several other unsurprising details, including worries about competition and security.
It may be surprising to Datto. It’s not surprising to listeners of this show, where the data has continually shown that a provider’s value is above traditional infrastructure services. From my statements to the interviews with providers, consulting is the headline.
Calling it break-fix is likely misleading, implying simply fixing broken issues. Transactional services, where you trade expertise for cash, are not bad. It’s merely a different way to manage cash. It’s also not an either/or situation. The key to operations is balancing the models.
Let’s note that trading time for money doesn’t exclusively mean billing after the fact. Want to increase cash flow? That’s called a retainer.