Commercial Integrator January 2021 - 27

THE SERVICE DESK
State of the IT Industry for 2021:
Capitalizing on Opportunities As They Arise
ASCII Group president Jerry Koutavas highlights the areas where MSPs can thrive in the aſt ermath
of the pandemic and long road back to profi tability. by D. Craig MacCormack
WHILE ITS COUNTERPARTS on the AV
integration side have struggled in many
ways to transition into new vertical markets
and diff erent ways of doing business as the
coronavirus pandemic has continued its
spread across the globe, MSPs have found
themselves more in demand than ever.
Looking ahead to what's in store for
IT integrators in 2021 and beyond, Jerry
Koutavas, president of The ASCII Group,
isn't sure where things will go, but he sees
fl ickers of optimism in areas including network
security and collaboration protocols
as the work-from-home setup becomes
permanent for many.
" It's going to be a mixed bag in terms of
opportunity, " he says. " Larger companies
are mandating employees work from home
and some are extending it for many years.
Will that trickle down to small business?
" If it does, what MSPs put in place in
terms of security might not be enough.
They might need to go back and fortify
some of these environments, " he says.
Koutavas points to the state and federal
governments as playing a critical role " in
terms of getting businesses up and running
in 2021.
" It's going to be vital to at least get quicker
into the recovery, " he says. " We just want
business back as soon as possible. It doesn't
matter what your political affi liation is.
" This industry has been blessed. There is
so much growth taking place, unless you're
an MSP that's really vertically focused.
MSPs are going to come out of this just
blazing. They're going to have money in
their pockets, the recurring revenue upside
is there, " says Koutavas.
" There's a lot more optimism for our industry
compared to others. It's just a matter
of timing, " he says.
While we chose " transition " for the word
that best captures the state of the industry
on the AV side of the ledger, Koutavas
chose " capitalization " for The ASCII
commercialintegrator.com
As MSPs get new business, it's important for these fi rms to pivot into new
technology opportunities to continue to expand their benefi ts to customers.
Group and its membership. And, no this
has nothing to do with elementary school
grammar lessons. It's about capitalizing on
opportunities.
" What's taking place right now is MSPs
are getting an infl ux of business. That includes
new customers and more opportunities
for recurring revenue, " says Koutavas.
" What they need to do is reinforce their
businesses more: hiring to fi ll some of those
open positions and thinking about new
ways to market.
" The more aggressive MSPs who are
looking into reinvesting are the ones who
are going to win out. You have to put your
foot on gas and move the business forward.
The idea of going from great economy into
the pandemic shouldn't slow down the
investment in our companies. Now's the
time to do it, " he says.
Like in AV, interest in IT integrators and
MSPs has been " steadily increasing, " says
Koutavas.
" Investors have to put money somewhere
and they prefer to put it into a safer
bet, " he says. " We'll probably start to see
a lot of newer players and more conversations
in 2021 and into 2022.
" There are some interesting rollup
strategies starting to take shape. Everyone
is looking at an everything-as-a-service
model and we're right at the center of that.
Investors are going to be sniffi ng that out, "
says Koutavas.
" It depends on the industry how quickly
they're going to get back up and running, "
he says. " We're in the event industry too.
Getting that part of the business up and
running puts juice into the economy.
Government has use-or-lose scenarios,
but most companies aren't going to start
throwing money down the drain. "
Koutavas says there are some innovations
that were thrust onto the world due to the
pandemic that could have some serious
" staying power. "
" Collaboration is a rocket ship, " he says.
" Given the infl ux of everyone going online
for meetings, we're seeing MSPs becoming
consultants and advising clients on the best
ways to use this technology.
" It's not enough to survive right now., " he
says. " You have to pivot, then pivot again and
keep adding new layers of technology. "
JANUARY 2021 Commercial Integrator 27

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Commercial Integrator January 2021

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