I'm not here to replace your MSP.

I'm here to make you a better client.

Understanding what your managed service provider actually covers and where the gaps are costing you

Let me be clear about something before we go any further.

I am not anti-MSP. Managed service providers play an important role for small and mid-sized businesses. Good ones keep systems running, respond quickly, and provide a level of technical capability that most SMBs couldn’t afford to hire internally. According to a Kaseya report, 83% of SMBs rely on MSPs for their technical expertise in handling complex IT environments and worldwide SMB spending on managed services is estimated to have reached $104 billion in 2024. (Source: Techaisle)

That’s not a small commitment. Which is exactly why understanding what you’re getting matters.

When you first signed up with your MSP, someone walked you through the service level agreement. You asked questions. You thought you understood exactly what was included.

But what was explained in that first conversation and what shows up on your billing can differ dramatically. And if your managers and staff don’t have a clear picture of what’s in scope, they’ll call the MSP for every little issue that comes up; printers, leased equipment, software your MSP never touched. Depending on what you negotiated, that’s either burning through your included hours or generating charges you didn’t plan for.

Either way, it costs you money.

My job isn’t to replace your MSP. It’s to make sure you understand what you’re paying for, using it correctly, and not paying for things you don’t need.

What’s Actually in Your Agreement?

Most MSP contracts are built around a defined scope of service. That scope sounds comprehensive when you sign it. In practice, it has edges and those edges matter.

Research consistently shows that many SMBs lack a clear understanding of the full capabilities and limitations, of their managed services agreements. (Source: Research Nester) That gap isn’t a reflection of carelessness. It’s a reflection of how these contracts are written and how rarely anyone sits down to review them after the ink is dry.

A few questions worth asking:

What devices are covered? MSP agreements are often structured per device or per user. If you’ve added workstations, added staff, or changed your environment since you signed, your coverage may not have kept up. You might be paying for devices that no longer exist, or running devices that aren’t covered at all.

What’s the service window? Standard agreements typically cover support during business hours, often defined as something like 7 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Friday. If your business runs outside those hours and something goes wrong at 7 PM on a Friday, you may be looking at after-hours rates that weren’t in your budget. Know what your agreement says before you need it.

What counts as a “project”? Routine support is one thing. A server migration, a new office setup, or a significant software deployment is often scoped separately; billed as project work on top of your monthly fee. This surprises a lot of clients. If you’re planning any infrastructure changes, ask your MSP whether it’s covered or quoted separately before the work starts.

The Printer Problem And Why It Matters

Here’s a scenario that plays out more often than it should.

A staff member calls the MSP because they are having printer issues. The MSP tech spends time troubleshooting. Ticket gets closed. Problem comes back for another user, on another day, rinse and repeat. More time gets spent.

What nobody checked: the printer is leased from a printer leasing company who provides their own support under your lease agreement. The MSP was never responsible for it. Every hour spent on that printer was either burning through included support hours or generating a separate bill, depending on your contract.

This isn’t a knock on the MSP. It’s a scope issue. And it’s fixable.

Knowing which equipment and systems are covered by your MSP and which are supported by other vendors, is one of the simplest ways to reduce wasted spend and unnecessary friction. CompTIA reports that 93% of organizations using managed services say they improved overall operational efficiency. (Source: CompTIA) But that efficiency only materializes when the relationship is structured and used correctly.

A Quick Audit Worth Doing

If you’ve never sat down and mapped this out, here’s a starting point:

What does your MSP cover?

Workstations and laptops (how many, which ones)
Servers or cloud infrastructure
Network equipment (routers, switches, access points)
Software support (which applications, to what extent)
Security tools (antivirus, endpoint protection, email filtering)
Backup and recovery (what’s backed up, how often, what’s the recovery time)

What does your MSP NOT cover?

Leased or third-party equipment (printers, copiers, phone systems)
Line-of-business applications supported by the software vendor
After-hours incidents (or what those cost)
On-site visits (included or billed separately)
New user setups or device provisioning beyond a certain number

Who else are you calling for IT-related issues? Make a list. Every vendor who touches your technology is a relationship that needs to be understood and coordinated.

What This Has to Do With Strategy

Understanding your MSP coverage isn’t just a cost exercise. It’s a foundation.

The numbers back this up: organizations that actively manage their MSP relationships and use services correctly can reduce overall IT costs by 20–30% and increase productivity by 15–25%. (Source: JumpCloud) Those aren’t numbers you get by signing a contract and hoping for the best. They come from knowing what you have, using it intentionally, and holding your vendor accountable.

When you know what you have, you can identify what’s missing. When you know what’s missing, you can make deliberate decisions about whether to address it, rather than discovering gaps at the worst possible moment.

That’s the conversation I have with clients. Not “should you replace your MSP?” but “do you actually know what you’re getting from them, and is it the right fit for where your business is at today?”

Sometimes the answer is yes, and we focus on optimizing the relationship. Sometimes the answer reveals something that needs to change. Either way, the business owner is making an informed decision, not a reactive one.

The Bottom Line

Your MSP is a vendor. Like any vendor relationship, it works best when you understand the contract, use the service correctly, and hold the provider accountable to what was agreed.

Most SMBs don’t have anyone in their corner doing that. That’s the gap I fill.

Not as a replacement. As an advocate.

Nate Olson is the founder of N.O. IT Strategy LLC, a fractional IT Director and vCIO consultancy based in Roseburg, Oregon, serving small and mid-sized businesses across the Pacific Northwest.