GTIA CEO urges MSPs to better monetise consulting efforts

Some managed services providers are struggling to monetise the consulting services designed to help improve margins.

Dan Wensley, chief executive of the Global Technology Industry Association (GTIA), told techpartner.news that MSPs have moved toward a consultancy approach in response to a “competition to the bottom around price per user”.

“Commoditisation was a real driver early on in this industry for the adoption of managed services in a recurring revenue model - it was the answer to the commoditisation around hourly rates or for break fix models," he said.

"Now we've gotten to a point, I think, where we've seen commoditisation even in managed services.".

GTIA, formerly CompTIA, has long been advocating for MSPs and other IT service providers to move more into consulting, Wensley said.

“But (they're) not always monetising that," he explained.

"When you're in a traditional seller market for selling your stack and selling your IT applications and services, there's margin in there. When you get into consulting and aren't charging for those services, that can have an impact because you're not always transacting.

"You're getting into quarterly business reviews and your customers are asking more and more of you, but you're not coming out of there with a new purchase order for a refresh of equipment.”

Another challenge that MSPs have been facing is pressure from “non-traditional competition”, with 30% of those operating in Australia and New Zealand citing it as inhibiting a healthy IT channel, according to GTIA’s 2025 State of the Channel – ANZ.

Wensley said cloud, marketplaces and artificial intelligence are now allowing adjacent industries to offer IT services.

“Traditionally it's been, 'I've got my group of MSPs or competitors in my market and that's who I'm always up against' and they didn't see any new names,” he said, but added that had been changing over recent years.

“For example, in Canada, our major telco bought one of the largest MSPs and started a services division, although it came from a traditional MSP business, and we’re starting to see even telcos in certain markets get into the traditional MSP space.”

Telcos moving into the IT services market has a long history, with one notable Japanese example being Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), which has had global success with its IT services offshoot NTT Data.

Closer to home, Telstra recently sold 75% of its IT services arm to India’s Infosys, and in NZ, telco Spark has faced financial difficulties due in part to a struggling IT services division.

Wensley said that as pressures mount, the global IT services community becomes more important, particularly around the ability to share information quickly as technology cycles shorten.

“You could miss six months or eight months in a cycle previously, but now, you miss six or eight months in the technology business, and it's radically changed," he told techpartner.news.

"Even our member communities, where we're doing two meetings a year, are asking for more. They realise we've got to stay more communicative and more aware of what's happening."

He added that regional differences are also emerging as governments introduce new regulations and certification schemes, making global knowledge-sharing even more valuable.

“Each region has a slightly different impact, whether it's government certification or requirements or regulatory, but being able to share the global perspective regionally and learn from each other … that's another aspect that has really been exposed,” he said.