Peter Kujawa is a seasoned executive attorney and industry leader with a wealth of experience in the MSP space. He now heads up the service leadership at IT Nation, part of the team at ConnectWise, overseeing IT Nation Connect, IT Nation Evolve peer groups and the partner advisory councils.
An Interview With Peter Kujawa
How the IT Nation Team Fosters Their Community
Peter explains that community is part of the mission and vision of ConnectWise corporately and IT Nation. “It’s what makes us do what we do. If you look at the leadership within IT Nation everybody is really committed to the sense of community.
“We know the power of community. Most of the leaders in IT Nation were at MSPs that were part of Evolve and part of the community. We’ve arrived here from different places, but what we want to do is help MSPs go even further.
“We’ve all received the benefit of the community stepping up to support us, which has impacted our lives tremendously. So we want to give back. And having a whole team focused on that means we get excited about events and the peer groups, and we do a great job.”
The Biggest Mistake MSPs Make When Trying to Scale
Peter says there are lots of mistakes MSPs make, so he suggests looking at it another way – what they can do to build a profitable, scalable business. And his suggestion is to not go all-in on a service offering, because it’s so hard.
“So my first bit of advice to any MSP is really understand what you’re doing well and what you’re not doing well today. Double down on what you’re really strong at. Understand the value of benchmarking, and you can keep tweaking what’s working.
“Next, I’d say the biggest thing that divides best in class from the rest is their willingness to change. It’s hard and painful, and can mean getting rid of clients or staff who are no longer a good fit. Sometimes you even have to admit you were wrong about things. But it’s all necessary.”
Why High-Achieving MSPs are Drawn to IT Nation
Peter’s belief is that high achievers have a way of finding other high achievers. “Interestingly, half of the people who were at the opening keynote were first-time attendees at an IT Nation Connect Event.
“So how did they end up there? They must have heard about it from someone they know and trust to recommend good events. That could be a colleague, a podcast or a newsletter.
“I think high achievers are magnetic. They pull each other in and they have a way of finding each other. The community is special. Anybody who comes to these events, anybody who gets involved almost instantly recognises that the community and our services are really special.”
The Big Opportunities for MSPs Right Now
Obviously, the biggest opportunity that everyone is talking about is AI. But in Peter’s opinion, MSPs should embrace automation and the positive changes to business models. It’s so important that they need to dedicate resources to it now.
“The first wave will automate a lot of level one tech functionality,” says Peter, which will allow MSPs to add customers without adding level one techs at the same proportionate rate. “This will see gross margin improvement as a result.
“But it’ll be three to five years’ time before it impacts every area of the MSP’s business. Sales, marketing, project management and delivery. Even executive management.
“It’s exciting and MSPs need to embrace it. It’s not going to put you out of business – it’s the opposite. Once you get it right internally, you can build an offering to help your customers do the same in their businesses.”
Why AI Isn’t Taking Jobs From MSPs
Following on from his thoughts on automation, Peter then explained why he doesn’t think AI is a threat. “What I think is likelier to happen is that as MSPs build this efficiency into their operation. And that means they’ll need fewer employees.
“Let’s say you have a 20% staff turnover and you’re growing your business at a 10% rate. So instead of replacing one of those people who leaves, you can you can add some customers and not have to backfill. But you won’t have to downsize.
“I’d recommend any young person coming into the MSP space to learn as much as they can about AI. Many legacy employees don’t have the experience in it, which puts new people at an advantage. Overall, using AI will be a positive transformational thing.”
How MSPs Leverage IT Nation Evolve Membership for Success
To assume that everyone who joins the peer groups are already successful is a fallacy, says Peter. In fact, the opposite is true. “They come to us when they finally recognise that they need help.
“The most gratifying thing for me is when I’ve made a suggestion, they act on it, see a difference and tell me how much it helped. What a lot of members tell me is that by coming to the meetings regularly, they start to see what they need to do to improve. Benchmarking (against others) helps with that.
“They get clear on what they need to do. Maybe they have to make some difficult decisions, but in the long run that helps them make big changes. I’ve seen MSPs grow to million dollar businesses or get acquired, and they credit those successes to the peer groups.”
How to Connect With Peter Kujawa
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Mentioned in This Episode
- IT Software: ConnectWise
- MSP community event: IT Nation Connect
- Peer groups: IT Nation Evolve
- Book: Bob Burg:
- Consultation solutions: Service Leadership
- Podcast: Richard’s interview with Dan Scott
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Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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