Channel Brief: Service Leadership, Kaseya, Huntress

Grab a cup of your favorite morning beverage and check out the return of our regular market briefing for managed services providers (MSPs), IT service providers (ITSPs), technology service providers (TSPs), cloud service providers (CSPs) cybersecurity consultants, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and distributors.

Scroll down for a quick view of upcoming in-person channel and MSP events at the bottom of this post (while we spiff up our industry calendar behind the scenes. It will return!)

And please send your news tips, information, and industry chatter to editorial director [email protected].

Sip up.

A. Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. What MSPs pay employees - Service Leadership’s 2024 compensation report shows that wage inflation peaked in 2022 for technology service providers (TSPs) worldwide and wage inflation has since stabilized with roughly one-third as many employees projected to receive top-lvel increases in 2024 as in 2022. Top performing technology service providers provided their employees with lower compensation increases compared to the bottom quartile of TSPs, indicating a difference in compensation strategies. Furthermore, best-in-class MSPs and VARs were less likely to offr unlimited paid time off while those in the bottom quartile were more likely to offer that benefit.

2. Cyberscurity tops MSP revenue drivers - This week we are at the MSP and MSSP cyberscurity conference Right of Boom, so expect to see plenty of cybersecurity news at ChannelE2E and our affiliate site MSSP Alert. We'll start with this one: Kaseya’s 2024 MSP Benchmark Report has revealed that cybersecurity is a top revenue driver for managed service providers – 78% said they consider cyberscurity a top IT challenge. The survey also showed that 85% of MSPs say automation is essential in IT management software. One third of MSPs said thaty’ll use AI to streamlin tedious IT tasks. And while MSPs and their clients are leaning into the adoption of AI and machine learning, 37% say implementing these technologies will be challenging.

3. New MSP cybersecurity benefit - Cybersecurity solutions provider Blackpoint Cyber has introduced the Blackpoint Community Protection Program (BCPP), which provides free, internal-use, ‘not for resale’ (NFR) licenses and manned 24/7 monitoring by the Blackpoint Security Operations Center (SOC) to MSPs. The new offers include dark web monitoring, montly threat assessment summaries, Blackpoint University ducational programs for MSPs, and pooled pricing. 

4. Security awareness training made easier - SMB and MSP cybersecurity platform provider Huntress has updated its security awareness training, introducing the option to have Huntress security experts manage the learning and phishing programs after a rapid initial setup. The update takes the administrative burden off MSPs.

5. Cybersecurity insurance partnership - SaaS-based cybersecurity monitoring platform SaaS Alerts is partnering with cybersecurity wholesale insurance provider to MSPs FifthWall Solutions to offer its new Beltex cybersecurity insurance solution designed for MSPs and their customers. MSPs that deploy SaaS Alerts to their customers will have access to a customized Beltex link for customers to verify eligibility and, in many cases, receive a direct quote and coverage within minutes, the companies said.

B. In-Person MSP and Channel Partner Events