NinjaRMM's latest Live Chat poll shows MSPs are finding opportunity, strength and resilience in today's rapidly changing business landscape.
There’s no denying the COVID-19 pandemic puts financial pressure on MSPs (managed IT service providers) that support SMB customers. Indeed, MSPs generally experience a 30 percent drop in revenue within the first three quarters of the start of a recession, Service Leadership says.
Still, the view from the ground shows some MSP market resilience, according to results from NinjaRMM’s latest MSP Live Chat session on July 23, 2020. The MSP software provider summed up the findings in a blog post.
Business Continuity
In fact, 70% of poll respondents from the session said their MRR business is either at the same level as it was pre-COVID, or has actually increased since the pandemic began.
Overall, though, the majority of MSPs responding to our poll are still losing clients, likely because small businesses are still being pummeled economically and are forced to scale back operations or close.
That said, according to the NinjaRMM blog, work volume continues to fluctuate as economic conditions change. March and April saw a big influx of project work for MSPs as they transitioned themselves and their clients to flexible work-from-home setups. Things have slowed down for nearly four out of 10 respondents; another 29% are seeing that work volume hold steady. For a third of respondents, work volume has increased.
MSPs in Good Spirits
Despite these challenges, though, the Live Chat poll showed team morale at the majority of MSPs was high. Given a rating scale of one to five, where one represented “all time low,” and five was “all time high,” none of the respondents selected “all time low.” Only 4.2% rated morale at a 2; 33.3% chose 3, 54.2% said morale was at a 4, and 8.3% said it was at an “all time high.”
Whether that's thanks to great management, clients showing their gratitude, or a combination of other factors, it's terrific to see.
The poll showed that not only does morale remain high, over two thirds of respondents —68.4%— said they believe their business has become stronger and more resilient, as the pandemic presented opportunities for infrastructure and workflow improvements, and that they'll be coming out of this stronger on the other side.
