Uncertain Times

The IT industry and the channel entered 2023 with what may be the greatest amount of economic uncertainty in decades with businesses facing inflation, rising interest rates, ongoing supply chain disruptions and warning signs of a possible recession.

Add to that the accelerating rate of technology evolution, the shift to hybrid home-office work practices, cybersecurity threats that are growing in number and sophistication, and the never-ending search for skilled tech workers, and you’ve got quite the list of challenges facing managed service providers this year.

As part of the CRN MSP 500 project, we asked top managed service provider executives to tell us what they expect to be the biggest challenges to their managed services businesses in 2023. Here’s what 20 had to say.

Anders Technology Advisors

Robert Minkler Jr., Managing Partner

St. Louis, Mo.

Getting late adopters of cybersecurity-focused services to migrate to improved services such as MDR and vulnerability management as a service.

Awecomm

Brent Yax, Founder and CEO

Troy, Mich.

Scale and growth – process evolution, automation [and] efficiency as we grow.

Blue Layer

Michael Strong, COO

Lubbock, Texas

Retaining our top talent and keeping up with our clients’ diverse and changing landscapes of their own.

CIO Landing

Juan Carlos Bosacoma, CEO

Northfield, Ill.

Marketing and lead generation.