MSPs are prioritizing new customer acquisitions, revenue growth, and profitability as the new year begins, according to a new Kaseya study of 1,000 MSPs around the world.
The study, State of the MSP Industry 2025 Look Ahead: Trends, Growth and Strategies for Success, released through Kaseya’s Datto division, reveals that 43% of the MSPs cited new customer acquisition as very important to grow their businesses in the new year, while 37% cited revenue growth and 36% cited profitability as their top priorities.
The MSPs included in the study ranged in annual revenue from $337,000 for smaller operations with one to four employees to more than $24 million a year at larger MSPs with more than 250 employees. Some 64% of the MSPs reported revenue increases in the past year, while some 67% expect further growth in the next three years, according to the report.
“MSPs confirmed what we have known for a long time at Kaseya – profitability is extremely important for MSPs,” Gary Pica, president of Kaseya’s TruMethods MSP training and business automation platform division, told ChannelE2E. “Almost all, 91%, said it was at least a moderate priority for the year.“
MSPs Must Stand Out in the Market to Drive Business Growth
To accomplish these goals, MSPs – especially smaller operations – must find ways to stand out in a crowded global marketplace by highlighting their niche expertise or offering co-managed services that can help with critical IT tasks that the customers cannot do on their own, according to the report. This includes IT services such as business continuity and disaster recovery, cloud-based infrastructure design and management, and data backup and protection. Stopping cybersecurity threats against their customers, especially those driven by AI, is another huge area where MSPs can differentiate themselves.
“For MSPs themselves, attacks on remote work tools are still the most prevalent, followed closely by phishing attacks,” said Pica. “It is not all that different for their customers, who are plagued by phishing attacks and business email compromises. No matter the type of attack, two-thirds of MSPs have seen an increase in AI-driven attacks in the last year. The bad guys are learning to get even better at what they do with the help of AI.”
How MSPs Can Grow Their Revenue and Customer Lists
Being proactive in adopting new technologies and delivering top-of-the-line service are helping some of the largest MSPs to raise their revenue in recent years, according to the report. Some 97% of the respondents offer broad managed security services to customers, which can enhance their revenue opportunities, while more than 50% of the top-earning MSPs migrated their client workloads to the cloud. Moves to increase their own use of automation to streamline processes and improve efficiency for their customers by incorporating AI and other technologies are also helping MSPs grow, the study concludes.
“Using AI and automation is table stakes for so many businesses and needs to be incorporated into MSPs’ day-to-day [operations] as well,” said Pica. “Kaseya helps by urging MSPs to be more forward-thinking.”
And as cyberattackers increase their use of AI to launch disruptive and damaging attacks on businesses, MSPs must be prepared, he added.
“To keep up with the pace of attacks backed by AI, protection from them needs to be AI-powered, too,” said Pica. “[...]This is something MSPs need to be thinking about on their own, too.”
About the Study
The latest Kaseya MSP study included responses from 1,000 MSPs worldwide, with 78% in North America, 11% in EMEA, 7% in the Asia-Pacific market, and 4% in South and Central America.
The top seven concerns listed by participating MSPs in the study are acquiring new customers; revenue growth; profitability; managing internal operations; company culture; cyber insurance; and cybersecurity issues.
Kaseya acquired Datto in June 2022 for $6.2 billion with the backing of the private equity firms Insight Partners, TPG Capital, Temasek and Sixth Street. Kaseya provides AI-enabled cybersecurity and IT management software for MSPs and mid-sized businesses.
