7 Struggles Today’s MSPs Wrangle

A lot of our customers share similar stories, and we have the benefit of the point of view from both service providers and enterprises. We also are an MSP customer. And while that’s a single point of view, with a single service provider, it’s also provides added insight into the struggles facing MSPs and MSSPs in ’23.

1. Customer Onboarding. It simply can’t happen fast enough, or with less effort. Some of the numbers I’ve seen are astounding, regarding how long it takes to get customers onboarded. We simplify onboarding with support over 180 vendors and advanced features like automatic IP Address conflict resolution.
2. Customer Data Segregation. Often providers use vendor products, but those products aren’t designed for multi-tenancy the way BackBox has been. In fact, we were an MSP before we became a software company, so we understand the demands placed on service providers better than most.
3. Time Efficiency. Who has to say this these days? Regular admin tasks need to be completed in as little time, with as little effort as possible. Of course, without sacrificing the quality of work. The BackBox Network Automation Platform is purpose built for automating tasks in a way that make administrators the most effective versions of themselves possible.
4. Keeping Networks Secure. The single most important thing companies can do to keep their networks safe is keep them up-to-date. Software updates are responsible for applying patches to known vulnerabilities. Failing to update for known vulnerabilities that you’re exposed to, is like failing to lock the door and keeping all your valuables on the table. Considering how important updates are, it’s a complicated process to do so. Keeping devices up to date is a place where we really shine in the way we simplify, and cut the time companies are vulnerable to attack.
5. Avoid Configuration Drift. There are some people on our team who have logins to our firewalls even though they’re managed by our service provider. Our work is passed to our service provider… mostly. We’re a small company. But, imagine an MSP with even just 10 customers like us, trying to keep track of what the admins on site are doing. Especially when it’s the MSP who is responsible for the SLA delivered, even when it’s our team that might be making changes! With BackBox (and yes, we’re dogfooding with this MSP) all the work our team does is audited and controlled. Configurations are groomed back to their desired state every night when backups are performed. Simple.
6. Inventory Reporting. How do MSPs handle devices that customers put on their own networks? Do they even know they exist? What about changes to the network configuration and reporting that everything is as expected (as defined by the SLA between the companies). BackBox can solve for all of this and more.
7. Business Commoditization. No one likes to compete on price. Which means competing on value. But what value? At BackBox we’ve deliver our BackBox Network Automation Platform, and through it we go-to-market with bundled offerings like CIS Compliance or Terminal Access Control and Auditing, that help Service Providers deliver value-added services on top of basic network offerings.

This is really just the start. Check out our recorded webinar “Perfecting MSP Onboarding with Network Automation.”