All Your Eggs in One (MSP's) Basket

It's an interesting proverb: "never put your eggs in one basket." The origin is uncertain, though it may have been at one time. It's fun to think that it started life as a literal phrase that became an idiom over time rather than being conceived as a pithy phrase that would last for centuries.

The message is clearer: if you put all of your eggs in one basket, should something happen to that basket, you are left with no eggs. One can easily imagine how this might be devastating under certain circumstances, adding emphasis to the implied warning.

The Case for Managed Services

The reasons for selecting a managed services provider (MSP) are well-supported and documented, especially for organizations in the small and medium-sized business spaces. The business, unprepared or unwilling to build out its own capabilities in support of its primary goals, chooses to subscribe to those services.

The benefits of getting access to an array of skillsets and products at a fraction of the cost of developing the same are obvious—and frankly, many companies would struggle to meet their objectives at all without this model.

The Expansion of Services

Market forces have naturally led to service providers offering more and more services: from service desks to infrastructure development and management to what is often laughably referred to as "IT as a Service," where "IT" is a familiar placeholder for everything one can think of that has electricity coursing through it. It's marketing-friendly but fails to stand up to even cursory scrutiny when considered against the practical realities of a master services agreement.

Buyers are attracted to going to one source for what they need. In conference rooms around the globe, '[entity] in a box' is either being discussed for the offer or asked for by resource-constrained buyers, independent of industry. Other Hall of Fame entries include 'One Throat to Choke' and the ever-classic 'Single Pane of Glass'.

Jokes aside, there's a gravitational pull to not having several disparate solutions when economies of scale can be leveraged to bring costs down while contracting for needed services.

Many eggs are, after all, very easy to carry in one large basket.

The Hidden Risks

The savvy buyer should consider, however, the potential risks of asking one vendor to provide all services. Should, for example, a compromise occur at the MSP, the exposure for the client organization is tremendous.

A simple question: if this MSP went dark tomorrow, could the client organization continue operations in a diminished capacity? For how long? Is there a contingency plan? Another MSP that could be engaged in short order to resume operations?

A Better Approach: Separation of Duties

Migrating between MSPs based on the perception of resiliency in the face of adverse conditions is a strategy (and a good one at that), but another option is to consider a checks-and-balances, separation of duties approach.

A service desk, for example, is focused on uptime and availability of services. Their SLAs will enforce this focus exclusively. A security services team focuses on protection of systems and data against unauthorized access and manipulation; one team cannot share both focuses without compromises in contract-enforced operating targets.

Two teams, however, working collaboratively while meeting their own measured objectives, can serve the buyer more effectively.

With today's technologies, they may even be able to present their metrics on fewer than two panes of metaphorical glass.

Finding the Right Balance

There are no hard and fast rules in the world of business, and some buyers will favor—or will only be able to afford for the time being—having one carefully selected and trusted service provider meeting their needs.

Others, though, may consider pocketing at least a couple of eggs on the walk home just in case something happens.

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To discuss how DL Cyber can add value for your company—with, not displacing your existing MSP relationships—contact us or call (832) 982-0161.