We asked the managed service providers who made the Channel Futures 2023 MSP 501 ranking a simple question: What was the smartest thing you did in 2022, the year represented in the survey, to achieve success in 2023. The answers, as you’d expect, varied. Some MSPs deployed basic strategies often overlooked by those overwhelmed with day-to-day distractions. Many focused on building long-term, profitable cybersecurity practices. A few made quick decisions to address immediate problems like finding and hiring the right people in a tight labor market.

Whatever the answer, MSPs of all sizes can learn from what others have done to build among the best managed service companies in the world. Let’s kick off the gallery with Pam Miranda, owner, president and CEO of Triella, a company based in Toronto, Canada, that moved to 75 on this year’s MSP 501 list from 86 last year. The smartest thing she did was to retain the owner of Triella after buying the company and improving many of the company’s business practices.

Hear from the MSP 501 Winners

Triella’s Pamela Miranda

Miranda found herself at a crossroads during the pandemic. She lost her job working in M&A and financing for a large investment firm after it restructured. She was stuck at home with two small children, craved flexibility and definitely did not want to return to banking. “I was like, okay, what am I going to do with my life?”

She ended up partnering with a former client with a background in technology and decided to buy an MSP.

“The MSP space (in the Ontario area) is very fragmented so there was a nice opportunity to be a long-term investor,” she said. “The smartest thing I did was to keep the seller to run they day-to-day operations so that nothing was changing in the clients’ eyes.”

But Miranda made other smart moves once she become familiar with the strategic side of the business. She rebranded Triella and began marketing at area trade shows for specific audiences like law firm managers. The company has invested in four trade shows this year and recently signed up a client from one of them.

“It’s an investment because (trade shows) are expensive,” she said. “We got one client out of it, so it’s testament that it’s working out.

“It’s about investing in the marketing and branding,” Miranda added. “I rebranded everything. That was something that needed to be done. So that was very smart. Branding plays a huge role in growing your business.”