Scale Service Delivery Despite the IT Talent Gaps
In today’s rapidly evolving IT space, managed service providers (MSPs) are seeking new, dynamic strategies to thrive. Demand is rising at record speed; through 2026, the MSP market is projected to increase by $90 billion. That means comprehensive, efficient support is more critical than ever, especially in the face of an unprecedented talent gap and unpredictable cybersecurity threats, which make automation and other high-tech processes increasingly crucial.
A smarter, more effective approach can make all the difference in navigating these challenges. Here, we’ll detail three best practices to help you streamline IT management, provide comprehensive support, and scale service delivery—all must-haves in today’s high-stakes environment.
1. Automation lets businesses scale to new heights without hiring a single person
For many MSPs, efficiency problems are a tremendous growth obstacle. Disjointed processes, visibility issues, and tedious manual tasks hinder service delivery and cut into profit margins, rendering effective scaling impossible. A single error—whether a software bug or a human oversight—can lead to many new tasks and unimaginable delays for your team. Hiring more talent isn’t always the answer, especially considering staffing inefficiencies only make things worse.
That’s where automation comes in. This innovative technology transforms the most time-consuming processes into behind-the-scenes afterthoughts, allowing your team to focus on more meaningful and enjoyable work. For example, remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools can automate the patch process, eliminating the resource-intense tedium of manual maintenance. Integrated software suites—such as professional services automation (PSA) solutions—can also transform workflows by unifying a wide range of error-prone processes, including invoice processing, service delivery, and business intelligence. By eliminating common inaccuracies, PSAs ensure that accounts receivable, cash flow, and payroll disbursement processes are as seamless as possible.
On a broader level, automation can help you navigate today’s IT talent shortage. Advanced automation, greater operational efficiency. and more accurate cross-functional data enable operations to flourish with only the minimum required headcount. Automated processes also boost productivity and minimize unnecessary resource usage and costs, which can be transformative advantages that can help you tackle tech accountability and workforce deployment issues.
2. Closing the skills gap is necessary to grow
Talent acquisition is especially difficult these days, even as hybrid and remote work models become increasingly popular. MSPs must identify the most qualified individuals in a limited pool of candidates—a standard, age-old task. But pressing competency gaps, coupled with higher salary demands, have complicated the hiring process in new ways.
When accommodating both new and existing customers, MSPs must fulfill service-level agreements (SLAs) while providing thorough, speedy support. Without qualified talent, advanced automation, and cloud-based IT services, MSPs may fail to meet their customers’ expectations—which, over time, can result in higher customer churn rates.
Even with state-of-the-art technology, the need for new talent is occasionally unavoidable. By turning to external IT experts, MSPs can tackle a variety of internal problems—including staffing. That means skipping the costs and hassles of the talent search—which may fail to produce viable leads at all—and instead outsourcing critical duties to skilled, experienced specialists. Doing so allows MSPs to scale without the burden of a growing headcount, and ensures that even the most exacting customer’s demands are met.
3. Benchmarking ensures operational maturity
It’s no secret that following best practices works when you have the right resources. By identifying and cultivating strategies that best serve your unique customers, MSPs can better unify their systems and ensure operational maturity. Along the way, MSPs should implement validated benchmarks to evaluate growth, identify improvement areas, and determine whether new talent is necessary.
PSAs can assist with benchmarking, allowing you to fine-tune strategies and customer targeting. By identifying customers whose service requirements most closely align with specific MSP resource technology stacks and vendor services, PSAs can help you pursue the right client base and tweak offerings accordingly.
Service Leadership resources can help you objectively measure current service costs and productivity ratings against best-in-class standards. These groundbreaking tools also generate comprehensive, personalized action plans and the documents, templates, and videos needed to execute them.
Conclusion: Extraordinary results begin with decisive action
You want to achieve your most ambitious vision of success. That could mean reassessing your tech stack and your strategies to create efficiencies that enable you to grow and scale. While best approaches will vary based on your specific business, prioritizing these top three practices will inevitably pay dividends:
- Outsourcing help desk and network operations center (NOC) services can overcome skills gaps, keeping MSPs ahead of the curve.
- Automation revolutionizes efficiency, accuracy, and workplace morale.
- Implementing meaningful benchmarks and following best practices can create sustainable long-term growth—even as the space evolves in new, unforeseen ways.