Kaseya Survey Shows Opportunities in Remote Work and Cloud Migration

Kaseya, a Miami-based provider of unified management and security software for MSPs and SMBs, has released new research examining the evolving circumstances of remote work amid the global pandemic.

The company’s 2022 MSP Benchmark Survey, which is in its eleventh year, includes data about the priorities, challenges and predictions of more than 1,200 MSPs across the globe.

“With COVID-19 continuing to affect everything from global logistics to the work environment, it’s no surprise that 76% of MSPs said the pandemic affected their ability to expand services within their customer base,” said Mike Puglia, Chief Strategy Officer at Kaseya. “There’s an increased need for the security, business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) and remote work support services that are driving revenue growth for MSPs, and we expect the demand for these services to continue in 2022 and beyond.

According to the survey, the ever-evolving compliance landscape has been a significant challenge for SMBs, with 74% of MSPs stating their customers struggle to meet regulatory compliance requirements. MSPs have been stepping up to help their customers navigate this complex landscape, with 75% of respondents either offering or interested in offering compliance services. 59% of MSPs had clients that were required to comply with HIPAA guidelines, followed by PCI DSS (41%) and GDPR (27%).

MSPs are also feeling increasingly concerned about the cybersecurity landscape with 50% saying that their business is more at risk to cybercrime compared to one year ago, which is an 11% increase from 2021’s data. Almost half of MSPs reported that a significant portion of their clients fell victim to a cyberattack within the last 12 months.

The pandemic has permanently reshaped the work environment, with 22% of respondents stating that remote workforce setup was the top service requested by their clients—followed by cloud migration (21%) and business continuity (13%). Remote work is also seen as a significant pain point for MSPs’ customers, with 36% of respondents selecting it as one of the top three IT problems for clients in 2022.

Supply chain issues and hiring are two major challenges MSPs expect to face in 2022. 92% of MSPs have had supply chain issues impact their ability to sell solutions while 19% said hiring would be their primary challenge in 2022— a 15% jump from 2021’s data.

Channel Impact^®
MSPs see security as both a challenge and an opportunity in 2022, especially as half say that their business is more at risk to cybercrime compared to one year ago.