5 Signs You’ve Outgrown Your MSP Services

Sponsored content by Wipfli, a WBA Silver Associate Member

By Jeff Olejnik and Tom Wojcinski 

Your managed services provider (MSP) may be responsive in helping you manage your servers and meet basic compliance needs — but is that enough?  

Financial institutions face new cybersecurity and IT considerations as they adopt the latest innovations for optimizing operations and enhancing customer experience. And the cybersecurity threat landscape continues evolving as AI brings new efficiencies to both businesses and threat actors.  

If your MSP isn’t helping meet your changing IT needs, it may limit your growth. Switch to an MSP that can join you as a strategic partner — not just a service provider — helping you go beyond the basics to transform your institution.  

Here are five signs you’ve outgrown your MSP services:  

1. They’re not industry specialized 

Many MSPs work with multiple industries, meaning they often lack knowledge of the unique operations and regulatory requirements of financial institutions.  

When you work with an MSP that offers industry-specialized services, you’re working with people who have a deeper understanding of your technology requirements and the industry challenges you’re likely to face. They understand the business applications and can help you maximize availability. And they can apply their experience in helping other financial institutions to your obstacles.  

2. They’re not helping you meet regulatory priorities 

The threat landscape has changed since the FFIEC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool was last updated in May 2017, and regulatory priorities reflect that.  

Regulators are now inspecting for the additional priorities outlined in the Fiscal Year 2024 Bank Supervision Operating Plan. This plan highlights critical areas such as data recovery, access controls and operational resilience.  

Your MSP should not only be aware of these regulatory priorities but also help you update your security controls to satisfy regulators.   

3.  They don’t help guide your digital strategy 

With the rapid pace of technological change, modernizing business is a key concern across industries. 

For financial institutions, modernizing often involves integrating your core banking systems with new customer relationship management and analytics systems. And that process requires support for more than just your servers.  

Your MSP should be able to help you develop an IT road map, guiding you in creating a technology infrastructure that supports your organization’s strategic vision, identifying potential challenges and providing recommendations. They should also take a proactive role in helping you identify ways to use technology to improve workflows, productivity and customer experience — all while helping ensure your IT strategy and strategic plan stay aligned.  

4. They lack scalability 

Many MSPs operate as smaller organizations with limited staff. That means that as your organization grows, it may not be able to scale with you.  

Find a provider capable of supporting your future growth, not just fixing and patching your servers. You need an organization with the bench strength to support you as your cybersecurity needs and IT infrastructure evolve.  

5. They’re not meeting your security needs 

The introduction of innovations such as AI and cloud services has changed the threat landscape significantly.  

To effectively secure your cloud environment, your institution needs to work with a provider who can offer design and engineering support for critical safeguards, such as access control, identity management and security configurations. And now that threat actors are using AI to increase the frequency and sophistication of attacks, you’ll need an MSP capable of responding.  

Partner with an MSP that maintains connections with different threat intelligence sources and understands the latest threats on a global scale — especially those impacting financial institutions. MSPs that work with organizations like FS-ISAC are better equipped to apply their knowledge of the latest threats to protect your institution.  

How Wipfli can help  

Wipfli’s managed services team brings deep industry experience to support your financial institution’s IT needs. We understand your critical industry, operational and regulatory concerns, and we’re ready to provide proactive guidance to help you address them.  

Contact us today to learn more about how our MSP services can do more to further your growth.