MSPs sell their book. The vendors they're authorized on. The platforms they're certified on. The products they have margin on.
The infrastructure they're about to recommend for your business is shaped by all of that before you walk in the room.
This Playbook covers what that actually means for you: how to size the right MSP for your company, what security capabilities a small MSP genuinely cannot deliver regardless of what they tell you, why outsourcing IT decision-making to someone with a vested interest is one of the most expensive mistakes a growing company makes — and the one rule that keeps you from getting locked into the wrong stack for the next three years.
You should be leading the MSP. Not the other way around.
The Playbook
00:00 — The danger of outsourcing IT decisions to someone selling their book
00:45 — Why MSPs sell their book — and why that's the reality, not a criticism
02:00 — Deal registration: how your project gets locked in before you've decided
02:34 — Size mismatch: why a $100K project won't get attention from a large VAR
03:30 — The security capability gap: what sub-50-person MSPs can't actually deliver
04:47 — Platform-on-platform: the tools MSPs resell vs. real capability
05:40 — Truck rolls, multi-site support, and what to ask before you sign
06:10 — Rip and replace: the cost of getting it wrong while under contract
07:00 — The play: define your infrastructure needs first, then find the MSP that fits
Resources Mentioned
- Intune (Microsoft) — endpoint management platform
- Defender (Microsoft) — security platform frequently configured by MSPs
