- Integris CEO: Trust and Reputation Can Make or Break M&A
- Despite RTO Push, Opportunity Abounds for MSPs Serving Distributed Workforces
Every MSP is involved in cybersecurity or should be involved in cybersecurity. But the world of managed services involves many other technologies, tools and trends as well.
With that in mind each week MSSP Alert brings you the top headlines from our affiliate site ChannelE2E which focuses on MSP tools, M&A, AI, and other topics of importance to service providers.
This week, we hear from Integris CEO Rashaad Bajwa about key mergers and acquisitions success factors for MSPs. We also examine the opportunities for MSSPs and MSPs in delivering sound security for distributed workforces.
Integris CEO: Trust and Reputation Can Make or Break M&A
After multiple acquisitions, New Jersey-based MSP Integris has the M&A process down to a science. And what they've found, according to Rashaad Bajwa, CEO of Integris, is that some basic best practices should be present for a successful M&A.
Those include identifying acquisition targets that have a similar ideal customer profile, business size and vertical market focus as that of the acquiring business, Bajwa said. It's actually a very strategic, well-thought-out process, not a decision that's lightly made.
"This isn't just about shoving together revenue and clients and people. It's about having a very, very strategic process around the puzzle pieces that make up a premium MSP," Bajwa told ChannelE2E. "We think what's most important is making sure that there is an organized, defined strategy and vision that is common and similar to all of the MSPs that we're bringing together. So, for example, with us, the ideal customer profile, the target customer profile, those have to overlap. And we're going after SMBs. So, we want to make sure that any companies that join us, the more they look like that, the easier integration will be going forward."
There's not a lot that's unique about that approach, Bajwa said, but Integris has a 'secret sauce' that acts as a differentiator, he said. It starts with recognizing that MSPs, at their core, are people businesses.
Read the full story on Channel E2E.
Despite RTO Push, Opportunity Abounds for MSPs Serving Distributed Workforces
Despite the push for return-to-office and on-site work, there are still plenty of fully remote, hybrid and flexible work environments that need to be monitored, managed and secured. And the combination of setups — on-premises, fully remote, hybrid and flexible — means plenty of opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs) to help these businesses succeed.
"We see the 'work from anywhere' environment as a huge opportunity for MSPs, because businesses will need extensive help with installations, monitoring and support with their staffs in many different places on any given day," said Evan Rice, COO at Rev.io. "In particular, SMBs that do not have significant in-house IT staff will heavily rely on MSPs that can enable them to run effectively in these distributed work environments."
The key challenge for MSPs, Rice said, is how they manage the significant complexity associated with a growing number of jobs across many locations. These organizations' team members will, by necessity, often rely on automated tools that can help them get their work done in the most efficient way possible. Unfortunately, lots of MSPs rely on antiquated tools and processes that were not built for the distributed work environment that we are in today, Rice said.
