Over half of MSPs serve between 21–100 individual clients, with the other two quarters managing either fewer than 20 or 101+ plus.
When looking at client number by MSP size, larger companies are (predictably) able to handle more customers. The majority of small MSPs serve 50 or fewer clients (with about half serving 20 or less). The majority of medium-sized MSPs (64%) support between 21–100 clients.
Large MSPs are much more likely to serve either 101–150 clients or 150+ clients compared to their smaller counterparts. However, they’re more evenly split across the number of clients they serve (between 20-30% across four ranges). This suggests that standardizing business practices—or serving fewer, but more valuable clients—can allow MSPs of any size to grow without necessarily taking on a larger number of clients.
The most common service offered by MSPs is IT helpdesk (61% of respondents), followed by network management, network operations, cybersecurity management, and cloud services. The top services offered in last year’s Trends Report also included cloud services, cybersecurity, and network management. However, backups and project management, which made last year’s top list, are lower on this year’s services listing.
Small MSPs are slightly less likely to offer network, cybersecurity, and productivity management services, while large MSPs are more likely to offer software license management than average.
Interestingly, MSPs who offer more services overall—and less common services, like disaster recovery, productivity management, and Internet of Things (IoT)—can pull ahead of the pack in terms of overall revenue, CSAT scores, and client retention rates.
When asked which services they intend to grow in 2025, MSPs are focusing on the top services they already offer: IT helpdesk, cloud services, cybersecurity management, network operations, and network management. This suggests MSPs aren’t necessarily looking to add new services to grow their business, but want to either sell their existing offerings to new customers or expand these services among existing clients. These findings are in line with ScalePad’s 2024 Trends Report, where cloud services, cybersecurity, and network management were among the top 5 services planned for growth in 2024.
But MSPs may not want to ignore offering new services. As we saw in the previous section, high-performers across revenue, CSAT, and client retention rates are more likely to offer less popular services, like software license management, productivity management, IoT, and disaster recovery. This suggests that offering complimentary services outside of one’s core services can help unlock new growth.
“ We want to grow cybersecurity and compliance-as-a-service. We also want to grow contact center services and then our digital transformation and cloud transformation services. You need to have the right cybersecurity tools to make sure you’re protected. And you need tools to stay connected to your employees and your customers. Those are really the things we care about most.”
Chris Murray
VP of Operations
Watchkeep
The majority of respondents (61%) have 10 or fewer apps in their tech stack, with one quarter of respondents using 10–15 to serve clients. The number of apps MSPs have in their tech stack is likely to increase as the company grows, with small MSPs more likely to have 10 or less; medium MSPs more likely to have 6–15; and large MSPs slightly more likely to have 10-20. However, about a third of large MSPs only have 6–10 apps, suggesting that a lean tech stack can still help fuel growth.
MSPs who perform well in terms of CSAT, client retention, and staff utilization are more likely to have 15+ apps in their tech stack—suggesting that more apps don’t necessarily mean less efficiency. In fact, more apps may help MSPs better serve and retain clients.
When asked what their biggest challenges are in managing their techstack, MSPs listed keeping up-to-date on new tools, grappling with changing regulation and compliance needs, and the high cost of software as their top obstacles. Only 26% said having skilled labor was a key challenge.
The size of an MSP didn’t greatly impact their answer—except among high-revenue earners. Smaller top-earning MSPs are more likely to rank having too many different tools as their top challenge. Medium-sized high earners are likely to say they struggled with internal security and compliance. Large high-revenue MSPs are more likely to say having skilled labor to manage their tech stack was a challenge.
“When we look at our stack, especially new tools, we ask ‘What's the purpose of it? Does it fill a gap that we have in our portfolio today? Does it generate revenue or incur a cost?’ We’re lucky to have a dev ops team that looks at tools and determines our needs vs. nice-to-haves across a number of parameters. Then, we make a decision. ”
Chris Murray
VP of Operations
Watchkeep
Very few MSPs haven’t leveraged AI yet in their workflows (6%), and most are using it to streamline both technical and non-technical tasks. The most popular use cases for AI are streamlining communications, monitoring, and client engagement, followed closely by reporting, task automation, and code scripting.
Small MSPs are slightly less likely to be adopting AI compared to their larger peers, while larger MSPs are slightly more likely to be implementing it.
Interestingly, account managers and client success managers are less likely to say they use AI to automate tasks. This could be because their roles are more focused on directly interacting with clients. However, automating some of their tasks is likely worth exploring, since many MSPs list communications and reporting as their top use cases for AI—both of which customer-facing roles do frequently with customers.
“I think AI can come into play for customer sentiment analysis reporting so we're better able to verify what customers really think. You can see the trends and patterns across all the clients based on what they're saying about you, but I have yet to see a really good sentiment analysis product. Even ChatGPT loaded into your PSA is still not perfect.”
Matthew Bookspan
CEO
Blacktip
“We've taken AI and combined it with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to build internal processes, like our intelligent triage process, to improve efficiency. It helps ensure that when tickets come in, they're getting looked at through AI, through RPA, they're getting responded to, and then our triage manager reviews them.”
Chris Murray
VP of Operations
Watchkeep
ScalePad creates software that helps IT managed service providers work more effectively, both internally and with their clients. From wrangling hardware and software assets to monitoring vital backups and compliance frameworks, our platforms give MSPs the tools they need to succeed.
