MSPs Clients are also looking for guidance on integrating their tools


more effectively. Nearly nine in ten say they have the right stack, but tool sprawl and disconnected systems remain huge challenges. And finally, there’s a growing need for partners to help clients get more from their existing teams, moving them away from endless firefighting and toward more strategic work.


How can partners embed ITSM into their managed offerings without overhauling existing service structures? ITSM is most powerful when it’s treated as the control centre for resilience. For MSPs, embedding ITSM into continuity planning gives clients a single source of truth across complex environments. Tat means connecting ITSM to observability platforms, automating early detection and triage, and ensuring incident response steps are built directly into workflows. Te shiſt is cultural as well as technical. ITSM can’t be leſt as an administrative layer for handling tickets. It has to be part of the decision-making framework that guides recovery. MSPs that position it in this way see the biggest gains. Recovery times drop, teams collaborate more effectively, and confidence across the business grows. Partners don’t need to rip up their existing models to embed ITSM.


Starting with small, high-impact improvements is the most effective approach. Automating repetitive tasks within ITSM is a quick win because it frees teams from manual work and instantly proves the value of integration right away. Improving documentation and clarifying cross-team processes


helps clients remove bottlenecks without major structural changes. And where clients are ready, introducing metrics like mean time to detect and resolve incidents (MTTx) gives clients valuable, actionable insights into their resilience without requiring a new system. Tese practical steps build momentum for ITSM integration without the disruption of a full-scale overhaul.


How can process ownership become a competitive advantage? Clear process ownership is oſten the missing ingredient in resilience. When workflows lack clarity, teams slow down, issues escalate, and confidence erodes. But when providers establish ownership and make their processes transparent, they demonstrate accountability. Clients know exactly who is responsible, how the process works, and what to expect during a disruption. Tat not only makes the technical response smoother, it also builds trust. Over time, that trust becomes a competitive advantage because customers are drawn to partners who can prove, with confidence and clarity, that they are resilient.


What are the most effective ways to position resilience as a recurring revenue opportunity? Resilience isn’t about IT alone. It’s about keeping the whole business moving forward. Our research shows that outages and service disruptions don’t just hit systems; they cause real business harm. In fact, a third of organisations told us they’ve lost revenue due to disruptions, and more than a quarter said brand damage was a direct consequence. According to widely cited Gartner estimates, the average cost for IT downtime is £4000 per minute. Tat’s why resilience should be framed as protecting revenue,


safeguarding customer loyalty, and ensuring long-term brand strength. For partners, this creates a clear recurring revenue


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opportunity, positioning resilience as an ongoing managed service that guarantees business continuity. And as threats grow more complex, the ability to prove resilience consistently becomes a premium differentiator that clients are willing to pay for. Te key is to show measurable impact on business outcomes,


IT performance, and user experience. Focusing on people first, measuring customer and employee satisfaction, efficiency gains, user experience and service request times. Focusing on process, partners should track system uptime, service availability, incident/outages avoided, and recurring incident trends. And finally, the value and impact of tool functionality, utilisation, and productivity gains.


What capabilities should partners prioritise to evolve? Full-stack observability is the foundation for modern resilience. Without clear visibility across cloud and on-premises environments, resilience is almost impossible to achieve. On top of that, automation and AI are now critical for spotting anomalies and addressing issues before they escalate. Detection time is one of the clearest indicators of resilience risk.


If the first sign of a disruption comes from a customer complaint, it shows a lack of visibility and highlights major vulnerabilities. Another red flag is how IT teams spend their time. When more


than half of their working hours are consumed by reacting to critical incidents, it’s a clear warning sign. Tose teams reported a tendency to burn through budgets on disruptions, report lower satisfaction and stability, and are 50% more likely to report feeling understaffed when trying to support resilience. Tese patterns in ITSM data are signals that partners can use to spot emerging risks and anticipate service disruptions looming on the horizon before they escalate. One of the most overlooked capabilities is workflow design.


Over two-thirds (67%) of survey respondents from the IT Trends Report who used MTTx methodology stated workflows were the second most important consideration to improving operational resilience. Even when budget or money was removed from the equation, processes were still cited as the biggest factor 51% of the time. Processes are where resilience breaks down most oſten, and partners who can help redesign them deliver the greatest impact. Finally, decentralising ownership and giving teams local visibility and control ensures ITSM empowers people at every level instead of slowing them down.


What advice would you give to partners looking to align their ITSM practices with broader business goals? Aligning ITSM with broader business goals is a strategic exercise. Partners who want to do it well should sequence change in the right order: people, process and then tools. Too many organisations start with soſtware, only to see the same issues resurface because internal relationships and workflows weren’t addressed. Begin by understanding how teams collaborate, where


communication breaks down, and where conflicts arise. Use that insight to redesign the workflows that govern how work actually moves. Only then can you evaluate the toolset and decide what supports the new way of working and what gets in the way. Following this sequence ensures that ITSM contributes directly to


outcomes that the business cares about: happier customers, greater efficiency, lower risk and more agility.


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