Why Every MSP Needs a Modern IT Service Catalog

By 2025, businesses and governments will spend over $3 trillion on services alone. Partners are growing faster than vendors, and nearly three-quarters of this business will go through the channel, with 96% of every dollar being “partner assisted.” If you’re not selling services, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity.

It’s time to rethink how we sell services. Many MSPs still approach each deal like it’s brand new—customizing every quote, managing inconsistent pricing, and dealing with endless back-and-forth. This fragmented approach is inefficient, prone to errors, and doesn’t scale.

In this blog, we’ll explore how to create a streamlined process for selling services, and why leveraging the right partners and embracing as-a-service solutions is the key to success for your MSP.

Why Selling Services Is Inefficient Today

Selling services is often treated as a one-off project, with each deal requiring custom pricing, configurations, and approvals. This lack of standardization introduces several pain points:

• Inconsistent Pricing: Without standardized packages, pricing fluctuates based on who’s building the quote. One customer gets a deal; another gets overcharged. This unpredictability doesn’t just slow down deals—it erodes trust.

• Endless Customization: When every quote is customized from scratch, the process becomes complex and labor-intensive, requiring manual work that could be automated.

• Customers Have Other Options: Technically, your customers could buy from anyone, so why should they stick with you? Adding services turns you from a vendor into a true partner, creating a relationship that goes beyond just delivering products.

Continuing with a manual, custom approach to selling services makes scaling impossible and leads to slower sales cycles and eroded customer trust.

Why You Should be Selling Services

By 2025, businesses and governments are expected to spend an incredible $5.4 trillion on technology and telecom. Of that, over $3 trillion will be spent on services alone—outpacing hardware and software as the fastest-growing segment in the AI-driven economy.

The service sector presents a massive opportunity for MSPs, but capturing this growth requires more than just offering great services. You need the right infrastructure to sell and deliver those services seamlessly. A fragmented approach won’t cut it. You need efficient processes and tools to package, sell, and deliver services effectively.

To stay competitive, you also need to stop treating services as standalone and start packaging them with hardware, software, and support to create comprehensive solutions. This shift not only streamlines your offerings but also positions you as a true partner rather than just a vendor.

Offering services as-a-service unlocks recurring revenue and ensures long-term customer retention. Here’s why:

Here’s why:

• Recurring Revenue: Moving from one-off projects to bundled services creates predictable, recurring income streams, stabilizing your cash flow.
• Customer Retention: Services make you an integral part of your customer’s business, making it harder for them to switch providers and driving loyalty.
• Leverage Partners: Expanding your capabilities through strategic partnerships allows you to offer more services without additional overhead, helping you scale faster and serve customers better.

In short, selling services is the future, and MSPs that adopt scalable processes and leverage partners will be well-positioned to grow and thrive in this evolving landscape.

The Power of Partnerships 

Nearly 73% of all technology transactions will go through partners by 2025, and a staggering 96% of every dollar spent on services will be “partner assisted” before, during, and after the sale. That means if you’re not leveraging partners, you’re missing out on a significant opportunity.

Part of running a successful services business is learning how to leverage partners in a way that benefits both your business and your customers. A solution partner could be a manufacturer, distributor, or service provider—any company that helps you deliver a comprehensive solution.

Here’s why leveraging partners is a game changer:

• Expand Service Capabilities: Fill skill gaps and handle larger, complex projects by relying on partners.

• Agility and Scalability: Partners help scale quickly, allowing you to deploy services across multiple locations.

• Better Customer Experience: Offering end-to-end solutions through partners strengthens long-term customer relationships.

• Focus on Core Strengths: Let partners handle tasks outside your core competencies.

By leveraging partners, MSPs can expand capabilities, reduce overhead, and increase recurring revenue, all while delivering comprehensive solutions to customers.

To learn more about leveraging partners, check out our webinar: The 5 Must-Have Partners to Build Your Network as a Service Practice.