For many small and midsize business owners, the day you sign with an MSP feels like peace of mind. No more worrying about servers. No more late-night crashes. Just smooth sailing.
But months, or even years, later, it’s worth asking:
Is your MSP actually helping your business grow? Or are they just keeping the lights on?
It’s a tough question, especially when everything “seems” to be working. Your team logs in. Emails go out. There haven’t been any fires lately. But I’ve seen behind the curtain enough times to know: what looks like stability can often hide years of quiet neglect.
Take the manufacturing firm I met last fall. They’d been with the same MSP for over five years. Everything ran fine – until it didn’t. A ransomware incident brought production to a halt. That’s when they discovered half the machines hadn’t been patched in over a year. Their firewall was two firmware versions out of date.
The MSP? Still cashing the check.
An insurance office I met two years ago, they’d had the same MSP for ten years. Their only real complaint was lack of responsiveness. But when we reviewed the environment, their “business-grade Wi-Fi” was actually a $99 consumer router. Their firewall had been out of support for 3 years. And more than half their, computers and servers, hadn’t received a critical patch in over four years, including several zero-day vulnerabilities.
The MSP? Still cashing the check.
Uptime Isn’t the Same as Value
That’s the core problem. Most SMBs evaluate MSPs based on what’s not happening. No downtime? The MSP must be doing great. But real value isn’t measured in silence. It’s measured in insight, protection, and strategic guidance.
A good MSP doesn’t just fix what breaks. They help you see around corners. They reduce your risk, streamline your tools, and make sure your IT investments are actually supporting your business goals.
The challenge? IT is filled with deep waters. Acronyms, jargon, overlapping meanings. ISP means one thing to a healthcare provider and something else entirely to an IT professional.
That’s why trusting a partner matters. And why uou deserve more than a “no news is good news” relationship.
What to Look For in a Proactive MSP
If you’re currently exploring providers, or replacing a frustrating one, watch for these signs that an MSP delivers proactive value:
- They ask about your business, not just your devices. Good MSPs want to understand your workflows, growth plans, and risk tolerance. Not just your asset list.
- They provide recommendations, not just reports. Patch logs are table stakes. Smart providers show up with a plan: what’s outdated, what’s vulnerable, and what should change.
- They challenge outdated infrastructure. If you’re still running on a Windows 2012 box or daisy-chaining consumer-grade routers, your MSP should be raising red flags, not turning a blind eye.
- They’re transparent about service levels. How fast will they respond? What’s covered? What’s outside scope? If it’s fuzzy now, it’ll be worse when something breaks.
The best MSPs act like partners, not vendors. They bring clarity, accountability, and a sense of shared responsibility for your success.
Not Sure Who to Trust? That’s Why We Built the MSP Assessment Tool
Choosing the right provider is hard—especially when you’re comparing glossy proposals with buzzwords but light on specifics. That’s where our MSP Assessment Tool comes in.
It’s a structured, no-nonsense framework designed to help SMB owners and IT leads objectively compare two or three MSP options before signing a contract.
You’ll be able to evaluate:
- Security standards
- Service guarantees
- Proactive planning
- Backup and recovery practices
- Hardware and network recommendations
- And more
The goal isn’t to become an IT expert overnight. It’s to ask better questions, spot red flags, and choose with confidence.
Because you don’t just need someone to keep things running.
You need someone who helps you move forward.
Choosing an MSP? Don’t guess. Compare. Get the MSP Assessment Tool