Does anyone have experience doing DD on an MSP?
Want to understand what I should be thinking about and looking into.
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by a searcher
from The University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business
in West Bloomfield Township, MI, USA
in West Bloomfield Township, MI, USA
6yrs ago
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by a searcher
6yrs ago
from University of Texas at Austin
from University of Texas at Austin
Besides the generic due diligence, most of your work will be around MRR vs VAR vs Project Based, all those revenue sources have different value.
I would also be concerned about anything custom they are doing where a tech lead will have strong tribal knowledge about a customer's service delivery.
Cyber Security: 1) Make sure all their hosting services are on their own Subnet and VLAN that way a ransomware will only effect the customer that caused it. (this costs more, but is a must) 2) Make sure they have backups that work, customers might sue you due to a ransomware attacks that you can not recovery from. (Have cyber insuranceredactedHave a good outsourced cyber security provider, ransomware can't be auto-detected and blocked but most other cyber attacks can.
For the IT equipment you just need to go item by item and identify (License, warranty, and upgrade path/timeline) Licensing issues can be a ticking time bomb.
I would also be concerned about anything custom they are doing where a tech lead will have strong tribal knowledge about a customer's service delivery.
Cyber Security: 1) Make sure all their hosting services are on their own Subnet and VLAN that way a ransomware will only effect the customer that caused it. (this costs more, but is a must) 2) Make sure they have backups that work, customers might sue you due to a ransomware attacks that you can not recovery from. (Have cyber insuranceredactedHave a good outsourced cyber security provider, ransomware can't be auto-detected and blocked but most other cyber attacks can.
For the IT equipment you just need to go item by item and identify (License, warranty, and upgrade path/timeline) Licensing issues can be a ticking time bomb.
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by a searcher
6yrs ago
in Seattle, WA, USA
in Seattle, WA, USA
Besides the usual for any business (customer concentration etc), plus everything Joshua said, plus:
Techs should be at least 50% billable, preferably 75% or more.
Evaluate certifications and reseller authorizations, (especially if they are in danger of losing an auth.).
Customer environments should be well documented, (even just an internal wiki).
Should have a secure password mgmt system with access control by customer/tech.
Should have 2FA broadly implemented - all internal critical systems.
Should have documented on-boarding process, (forms etc).
Should have a "robust" system for remote management and monitoring, (RMM).
All customers should have at least two techs familiar. I.e. no single tech has exclusive knowledge.
Lacking any of these does not mean a deal-breaker, (well, no RMM might be - they're not really an MSP without one!), but it will be a cost/risk going forward until resolved.
(Probably more, this just off the top of my head taking a few minutes between meetings. :)
Techs should be at least 50% billable, preferably 75% or more.
Evaluate certifications and reseller authorizations, (especially if they are in danger of losing an auth.).
Customer environments should be well documented, (even just an internal wiki).
Should have a secure password mgmt system with access control by customer/tech.
Should have 2FA broadly implemented - all internal critical systems.
Should have documented on-boarding process, (forms etc).
Should have a "robust" system for remote management and monitoring, (RMM).
All customers should have at least two techs familiar. I.e. no single tech has exclusive knowledge.
Lacking any of these does not mean a deal-breaker, (well, no RMM might be - they're not really an MSP without one!), but it will be a cost/risk going forward until resolved.
(Probably more, this just off the top of my head taking a few minutes between meetings. :)
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