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With ongoing digital transformation and transition to cloud infrastructure, outsourcing of IT services and IT security in particular is on the rise. To get a better picture of current challenges and opportunities for MSPs across Europe, our experts conducted a survey of European MSP employees from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Sweden, and Denmark. From this survey as well as the analytics of our annual online survey of business IT decision-makers, “Kaspersky Corporate IT Security and Risks Survey 2019,” they compiled “Maintaining MSP Momentum: Challenges and opportunities in an evolving IT security landscape.” Here are some of the takeaways.

With the overall deficit of security specialists on the market and limited resources of small businesses, outsourcing of IT security management seems logical. That is why a third of businesses with fewer than 500 employees are already outsourcing their IT security management and another 21% are planning to do so in the next year. So, in the next 12 months or so we will probably see half of small businesses using the help of MSP partners.

As for the reasons, most businesses cite a desire to reduce security-related costs as well as a wish to have someone to account for their security and lack of internal expertise. However, arguments against IT security management outsourcing are also worth noting. Beyond such obvious issues as the availability of internal specialists, dissatisfaction with prices, and blind optimism about the odds of being attacked, they name such reasons as compliance and privacy concerns. The last reason is especially sensitive for businesses are working in the healthcare segment.

Despite not every business being ready to employ managed services, most MSPs also predict strong revenue growth (as much as 20%).

In this report, you can also find our view of evolving market dynamics, the impact of changing client relationships, and expectations for the MSP industry, as well as recommendations for MSPs to ensure they can take advantage of the opportunities and maintain long-term relationships with their clients, no matter what challenges come their way. You can download a PDF of the report right here.
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