COVID has ushered in a tide of change for the business world by creating waves of disruption across the global market for two years now. As businesses have been scrambling to adapt, the trick to survival for many businesses is simple – learn how to ride the wave. 

Afterall, even during times of great upheaval, opportunities can be found in abundance if you pay attention to changing trends. This is precisely why some industries have witnessed a boom in growth during the pandemic, thanks to their keen ability to reassess and restrategize in the face of disruption. 

The Rise of MSPs

One sector in particular that has gained traction during COVID is Managed Service Providers (MSPs). COVID has seen companies increasingly turn to third-party vendors to manage their IT infrastructure and end-user systems, outsourcing processes intended to improve operational efficiency during an unprecedented era of digital transformation. 

Throughout the pandemic we have seen a rise in cyberattacks, and a correlating increase in the cost of data security. Much-needed skilled IT professionals are scarce, and as businesses race to the cloud, services provided by MSPs are more needed than ever. 

The growth of MSPs shows no signs of slowing down; the managed services market was valued at $152.05 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach  a whopping $274.20 billion by 2026, with a CAGR of 11.2%, over the next five years.

There is a lot of optimism surrounding the growth of this sector and it’s expected to continue, but market growth alone isn’t enough to ensure a company’s success. It is estimated that there are approximately 130,000 managed service providers globally, and the battle for customers is intensifying. 

So how can MSPs ensure they stay both profitable and competitive in this ever-growing market?

Hybrid Working Models Increase Demand for MSPs

No longer just a temporary fix, remote and hybrid working environments have changed the dynamics of the modern workforce, and it’s become clear that they are likely here to stay. 

The fractured working environment triggered by the pandemic has created new opportunities, and demand, for MSPs to grow their service portfolios. In fact, most services that MSPs provide are absolutely essential for enabling an effective remote or hybrid working model in an organization.  

In order to support and sustain remote working, companies have had to increase their use of cloud based applications and collaboration hubs – often experimenting with multiple solutions in an attempt to find the right mix for their workforce. 

This process of trial and error can be both time consuming and expensive. Which is why the services offered by MSPs are so critical, especially for large enterprises who stand to lose significantly if the transition to remote and hybrid working environments isn’t managed correctly. 

MSPs tend to have pretty extensive service offerings, but there is one overlooked tool which can add value to the management of all of the services -- workforce analytics provided by monitoring software for remote employees.

Insightful Software Can Expand MSPs’ Service Portfolios

Employee productivity and the need for suitable remote work monitoring has become a major focus as companies attempt to navigate the new working landscape. Teams across the globe have sought to gain better visibility into employee behavior to measure performance and improve processes remotely. 

Remote work monitoring software like Insightful contains many features which can not only extend an MSP’s service list, but can easily be leveraged to support existing services as well. 

How? 

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Insightful’s remote work monitoring software contains useful features that provide valuable insights into when and how an organization’s employees work, what they are working on, and what tools they are working with. 

Let’s take a look at some of the features offered by Insightful’s remote work monitoring software and how they can add value to MSPs’ service portfolios:

1. Apps and Website Usage

Insightful worker monitoring software  provides visibility and gathers data on which apps and websites employees are using individually, as a team, or on a company level.

How it adds value:

• Infrastructure Management: By monitoring employee app usage, MSPs can assess whether expensive resources are being underutilized, and if employees prefer to use alternative tools which may be more intuitive and a better fit. This is valuable information which can be used for better resource allocation. 
• Mobility Management: By assessing the use of mobile applications, mobile resources can be better allocated to accommodate usage. 
• Security Management: By identifying employee use of shadow IT, MSPs can identify and get ahead of potential vulnerabilities and security threats, create policies, and launch security campaigns accordingly. 
• Communication Management: By monitoring which apps employees use to communicate with each other, MSPs can gain better insight into how to plan, implement, or revise an organization’s communication channels.

2. Activities Tracking / Time and Attendance

Insightful employee web monitoring software keeps activity logs which measure the idle and active time of employees, and the days and times they work. 

How it adds value:

• Network Management: By assessing the idle and active time of employees and the days they work, MSPs can make adjustments and improve network performance based on bandwidth and VPN utilization. 
• Data Center Management: By identifying periods of employee inactivity, MSPs can optimize the scheduling of hardware/software upgrades.

3. Raw Data

Insightful tracking software for remote workers provides detailed insight into the computer activity of employees and provides a clear overview of performance. 

How it adds value:

• Security Management: Thanks to detailed raw data on employee computer activity, this data can be used for documenting evidence when investigating security incidents. 

4. Productivity Management

Insightful software for monitoring remote employees helps you understand how much time employees spend on activities deemed productive or unproductive. 

How it adds value:

• Network Management: By gathering insight into how much time employees spend on unproductive activities and sites, MSPs can adjust network policies to limit the use of non-work related tools. 
• Workforce Analytics: By gaining insight into employee productivity, MSPs can offer workforce analytics to their services portfolio and provide enterprises with detailed data on employee productivity and habits.  

As you can see, Insightful software can add value to existing MSP service portfolios across the board AND allows MSPs to offer a new, highly in-demand service -- workforce analytics. 

Making Workforce Analytics Part of Your Operations as an MSP

By adding workforce analytics to your MSP service portfolio, you can provide your customers with valuable insight that can help them to: increase visibility of remote workers, implement best practices, avoid bottlenecks, improve communication, and increase engagement and training.

With workforce analytics on your side, you won’t get swept under by the tides of change. Instead, you can stand out from competitors and show your customers you care by increasing their’ bottom line with Insightful remote work monitoring software.