How MSPs can scale smarter as cybersecurity demands surge across EMEA
The managed services market across EMEA is undergoing rapid transformation as customers demand stronger cybersecurity, unified protection and more resilient IT operations. Ziad Nasr, General Manager – Middle East at Acronis, tells us how MSPs can capitalise on this shift by embracing automation, co-managed security and consolidated platforms to scale profitably and meet rising expectations.
Ziad Nasr, General Manager – Middle East at Acronis
wWhat major shifts have you seen in the MSP landscape across EMEA over the last 12 months? The biggest shift is that MSPs are now expected to lead on cybersecurity, not simply support IT operations. Customers want a partner who can advise on Zero Trust, resilience strategy and compliance, and deliver those outcomes continuously. At the same time, the complexity of hybrid and multi-cloud environments has grown sharply, which has accelerated the move from traditional IT support to managed detection and response, backup and recovery, and cyber-resilience services delivered under one contract.
Another major change is how MSPs are restructuring their operations. Instead of scaling headcount, they are investing in automation and unified platforms to control costs and remove risk from fragmented tools. This has also driven strong adoption of co-managed security models where MSPs bring vendor-backed 24 / 7 monitoring and incident response to their clients without needing to operate a full SOC.
Finally, there is growing maturity around service packaging. MSPs are standardising technologies, processes, and SLAs, to improve operational predictability and profitability. This shift has helped them move upmarket, supporting more advanced workloads, while maintaining a sustainable cost structure.
How are MSPs adapting their service models to keep pace with rising customer expectations?
There is a move away from single-function offerings like backup maintenance or antivirus management toward full cyberresilience services that combine proactive protection, rapid response and assured recovery. Customers now expect outcomes: guaranteed uptime, guaranteed policy enforcement and guaranteed recovery.
MSPs are aligning to this by bundling security awareness training, vulnerability
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