(This is part of a series of stories highlighting 2026 MSP 501 companies).
KRS IT Consulting sprung up 16 years ago because of a promise its founder made to his father.
“While I was caring for my father during his cancer treatment, I promised him in his final days that I would fulfill his dream of seeing me own and operate my own business,” said KRS founder and CEO Josiv Krstinovski. “He was an immigrant from Macedonia who worked long hours as a carpenter so my brother and I could go to college. That work ethic and determination is the foundation of everything KRS is built on.”
Krstinovski did more than own and operate his own business. Under his leadership, the Parsippany, NJ-based company shot into No. 26 on the 2026 MSP 501 after growing 93% over three years and earning a place on the 2025 Inc. 5000.
As a systems engineer before starting KRS, he learned valuable lessons about what not to do when running an IT business.
“I had also seen too many small businesses crippled by poor, unmanaged IT and unpredictable billing,” Krstinovski said. “So when I launched KRS, I built it around a flat rate model: a complete outsourced IT department at a predictable cost, with the responsiveness and accountability those businesses were not getting elsewhere. Sixteen years later, that is still the model.”
Josiv Krstinovski
Krstinovski said three major factors have led to KRS’s success: responsiveness, a focus on cybersecurity early on and re-investing in his business’ people, systems, and process.
“We treat speed of response as a core product, not an afterthought, and we back our work with a money back guarantee because we are confident in it,” he said.
He said KRS offered cybersecurity “years before it became a buzzword” and lists security training, pen testing, outside audits, vCSO services, and compliance as a service as core offerings. As for investing in the business, KRS has refined its service delivery, expanded the team and secured a spot on the GSA Schedule over the past few years.
KRS also rode the twin waves of AI adoption and compliance concerns over the past year.
“AI went from something clients asked about out of curiosity to something they are actively trying to deploy, often faster than their security and data governance can keep up, which creates real risk and real opportunity for MSPs,” he said. “And compliance went from a concern for specific industries to a universal one. With Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) enforcement ramping up in the defense supply chain and cyber insurance carriers tightening requirements across the board, even small manufacturers and professional services firms now need formal compliance programs. We saw a clear acceleration in clients coming to us not just for IT support, but for help proving their security posture to regulators, insurers, and their own customers.”
Krstinovski expects continued growth because of the industry-wide focus on cybersecurity and the investment KRS has made there.
“Technology spend for SMBs is no longer optional, since security and compliance cannot be deferred, and we have built the team and processes to scale into that demand,” he said.
Krstinovski said KRS uses AI assistants internally for documentation, scripting, drafting client communications, and accelerating engineering work. “It has made our team measurably faster without replacing the human judgment our clients are paying for,” he said. Externally, AI is becoming a service line to help customers adopt AI tools safely. “By the end of 2026 I expect AI readiness and AI security to be standard parts of our managed services stack.”
Krstinovski said his biggest challenge is finding talent.
“Finding people who combine deep technical skill with genuine client empathy is hard, and we would rather hire slowly than dilute the experience,” he said. “We have been investing heavily in service delivery leadership and internal training for exactly that reason.”
Other challenges include rising vendor costs that pressure margins on flat rate agreements, and a threat landscape where AI is making attacks faster and more convincing. “Staying ahead of that requires constant reinvestment,” he said.
Still, he remains optimistic for continued growth because of continued regulation requirements, the need for SMBs to adopt AI safely and the impact M&A has on the MSP landscape.
“The wave of MSP consolidation is actually an opportunity for firms like ours,” he said. “As the larger consolidators get more impersonal, clients are seeking out attentive, locally accountable partners.”