March has seen the release of Kaseya's 2024 MSP Benchmark Report, the company's annual audit of the state of play in the managed service providers' market, which this year sourced input from 1,000 MSPs from the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions with responses from both IT professionals and executives.

Key findings of the 2024 report include confirmation that cybersecurity remains a high priority and area of growth for MSPs, with 73% of respondents confirming that it's a top revenue driver for their business, while 78% consider cybersecurity to be a top IT challenge, compared to 67% in 2023. There was positive news for SMBs on the security front too, with 64% of the MSPs stating that less than 10% of their SMBs customers experienced a cyberattack this year. MSPs are seen as a valuable cybersecurity resource for customers, with almost half (46%) saying most of their clients turn to them for advice on cybersecurity plans and best practices.

Investing in IT management solutions with built-in automation integration capabilities is also a high priority, as 85% of participants stating that it's a must-have. While automation increases efficiency, integration helps create a unified system: 67% of IT executives believe integration between core MSP applications is very important for their work.

Over three quarters of participants (75%) agreed that integration between applications is a time-saving measure, and almost an equal amount (70%) believe that integration drives efficiency. Meanwhile a third of respondents (33%) predicted they'll use AI to streamline otherwise tedious IT tasks. While MSPs and their clients are leaning into the adoption of AI and machine learning, implementing these technologies will be challenging, according to 37% of respondents. The full Benchmark report is available to download from Kaseya's website: https://shorturl.at/nNZ03

Finally a quick reminder that, while nominations to determine the finalists for the 2024 Network Computing Awards have now closed and voting will open soon to determine the winners, there is still time to submit entries and case studies in the Network Project of the Year category. Please visit https://networkcomputingawards.co.uk for more details.

To make sure you get your copy of the Newsletter emailed to you personally, every time, click here to register.