MSP Oversight

The managed service provider relationship is the most important and least scrutinized technology relationship at most portfolio companies and mid-market firms. The MSP monitors the infrastructure, holds the administrative credentials, manages the endpoint devices, and responds when something breaks. In many cases, the MSP is the de facto IT department. And in most cases, no one inside the company — or at the sponsor level — has the technical depth to evaluate whether that MSP is actually performing or simply invoicing.

MSP contracts are written to protect the MSP. Liability caps are typically limited to the monthly service fee — meaning that if the MSP’s failure contributes to a breach or extended outage, your recovery from the vendor that caused the problem is capped at what you paid them last month. SLA language sounds specific until a dispute arises, at which point the definitions are loose enough to absolve the provider of almost any failure. Response time commitments are defined in ways that start the clock at a point favorable to the vendor, not the client.

Vertex CIO provides independent MSP assessment and ongoing oversight. The assessment evaluates current service delivery against contract commitments, benchmarks pricing against the market, identifies contract gaps and liability exposure, and produces a written report with remediation recommendations. Ongoing oversight — conducted monthly or quarterly — creates accountability that changes the nature of the MSP relationship. When the MSP knows there is a technically credible third party reviewing their performance, service levels improve.