Most businesses do not set out wanting to change MSPs. They make the choice once, sign the contract, and hope they never have to think about it again. The whole point is to make IT easier, to have someone else deal with the problems so the business can get on with its job.
Week after week, I speak to companies who are frustrated with their MSP. Some have been with the same provider for years. Others have switched two or three times in the last five. In those same conversations, when we talk about their security, they often tell me how much they appreciate our customer-centric approach, how we are proactive, transparent, and easy to work with, and that they wish the rest of their IT ran the same way. The gap between how they experience ThreatSpike and how they experience their MSP could not be more obvious. Each one tells me their issues, of which we could group into the same recurring themes – which I’ll dive deeper into in just a moment – The promises were big, but the reality has been a let-down. A vague sense that the MSP is just keeping things ticking along rather than actually moving the business forward with proactive consulting, advice and leadership.
One of our customers, who we cannot name due to a non-disparagement clause in their current MSPs contract, put it to me quite bluntly, “They either over promise and underdeliver or at best you get average performance.” That line stuck with me, because it is exactly the problem. When “average” is the best you can hope for, the whole model has got to be broken.
We’ve even experienced it ourselves. We’ve partnered with many MSPs to deliver security services to their clients, always meeting SLAs, delivering penetration test reports on time, and responding to incidents rapidly. But when the MSPs were meant to handle their side of the relationship, we ran into the same frustrations as our clients: tickets lost in the void, poor communication, basic requests taking days, and a general lack of care in service delivery. The quality wasn’t just inconsistent. It felt like no one was really accountable
If ‘Average’ Is Your Best Day, You Have the Wrong Partner
Average service is not neutral. It has a cost. Staff end up working around issues instead of getting them fixed. Projects get delayed. Opportunities get missed. Every hour someone is stuck waiting for the MSP to get back to them is an hour of productivity gone forever.
And it adds up. You might not see the total on an invoice, but you feel it in morale, in speed of delivery, in customer experience. Over time, “average” quietly becomes expensive, not just in money, but in lost momentum.
When Every Ticket Costs You, You Stop Asking for Help
Plenty of MSPs still run on a per-ticket model. In theory, it is pay for what you use. In reality, it warps the whole relationship. People stop logging “small” issues because they do not want to rack up charges.
Some tickets are closed quickly without proper investigation so they do not linger in the system. The “non-urgent” stuff gets pushed to the bottom of the pile and sits there until it either becomes urgent or you give up.
It is a terrible way to run IT. The MSP ends up making more money when you have more problems, and taking longer to fix them. There is no incentive to solve the root cause. The result is a constant cycle of firefighting where nobody is really winning except the MSP’s billing department.
Security Cannot Be Bolted On Later
The one area that should be front and centre, security, is too often an afterthought. I see it all the time. The MSP designs and builds the IT environment, then tacks on security tools afterwards. Maybe they partner with a security vendor, maybe they just install some off-the-shelf software and call it a day. Either way, it is reactive.
The problem with bolting on security is that it leaves gaps you do not even know are there. Weak points in infrastructure design. Inconsistent access controls. Misconfigured cloud environments. All invisible until something goes wrong, and by then it is too late.
This Is Why We Built ThreatSpike Black
We had customers telling us they loved the way we handled their security. They liked that we were proactive, outcome-focused, and transparent. They told us, “I wish the rest of our IT ran like this.” So we built something better.
ThreatSpike Black is a fixed-price subscription that covers everything — helpdesk, infrastructure, cloud, procurement, projects, compliance — all designed with security in mind from the start. There are no per-ticket charges, no gotchas in the contract, no reason to hold back on asking for help.
But more than that, it’s a way to elevate your technology — to move from reactive support to strategic enablement that delivers a return. We don’t just fix problems; we design systems that give your business a competitive edge.
We treat IT as an ongoing partnership, not a queue of tickets to close. We sit down with your leadership team to understand your objectives. We plan projects that move you forward. We keep checking your environment to make sure it is secure, efficient, and fit for purpose. And because we own the whole process, we can make sure security is built into every single decision.
It is not complicated. The MSP model does not have to be the way it is today. If your IT partner is making you work around their processes, hiding behind SLAs, or leaving you exposed to security, you can do better.
That is what ThreatSpike Black is for, to prove that IT can be predictable, secure, and genuinely supportive of your growth. We’re going to disrupt this industry and to put an end to “average” once and for all.
