Small business pain points of managed service providers — 224 real problems
What are the biggest pain points of managed service providers?
224 real problems of managed service providers on Reddit (updated September 2026), each classified by category, industry, who said it and severity: 165 are high severity.
165high severity
44medium severity
0told by owners
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- 855 real problems, in English
- Category, industry, role and severity
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20 examples of managed service providers
| Pain point | Category | Industry | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checkpoint cannot restore emails quarantined by Microsoft due to a policy conflict, blocking restoration. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Microsoft 365 Defender has not blocked phishing emails for 10 days, causing client complaints and increasing attack risk. | — | managed IT services | high |
| M-Files is unstable and indexing frequently breaks, causing problems for clients who want an on-prem DMS. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Wants a consolidated dashboard to monitor tickets, queues, network, and backups, but current solutions (separate windows) are neither savable nor shareable, and iframes do not work with authenticated sessions. | — | managed IT services | high |
| We cannot cancel a Proofpoint subscription for a failed client and Synnex keeps billing us for 6 months. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Clients submit support requests via group messages, not ideal for tracking and ownership, and it doesn't enter Autotask. | — | dental | high |
| Employees can accidentally leak sensitive data (API keys, client data) by pasting it into AI tools, causing damage such as a credential theft that led to a $4,000 loss. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Jamf MSP channel is severely lacking: no centralized management, no autopay, need for Excel reports, half-baked portal, inconsistent support, causing frustration and inefficiency. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Need an MFA alternative for shared accounts with high turnover because Microsoft is removing SMS and voice. | — | managed IT services | high |
| PAX8 refuses transfer of a new client because the outgoing MSP has not paid its bill, blocking onboarding and causing potential client loss. | — | managed IT services | high |
| At risk of losing indirect CSP reseller authorization for not reaching the $1,000 minimum revenue in 12 months. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Clients buy hardware on their own and expect free configuration, causing lost time and margin. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Datto EDR generates continuous false alerts, reduces system performance, and requires hundreds of manual exclusions, wasting time. | — | managed IT services | high |
| After reaching 20 remote users, NetBird slows down and has RDP lag, degrading performance without clear network cause. | — | managed IT services | high |
| He gets no response from Pax8 after initial contacts, wasting time and blocking operations. | — | managed IT services | high |
| AvePoint Fly's new annual subscription model makes migration costs excessive for one-off projects, pushing them to seek alternatives. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Cannot find a suitable multi-tenant vulnerability management software: tested products have alerting issues, false positives, unstable agents, or inadequate reporting. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Difficulty obtaining financing for server projects through distributors, with inefficient processes wasting time and potential clients. | — | managed IT services | high |
| QuickBooks Desktop 24 update crashes computers with previous versions, and installation is slow and complex. | — | managed IT services | high |
| Pays too much for external multi-tenant security scans (€9-10/IP/month) and cannot find a cheaper alternative for 50-100 IPs monthly. | — | managed IT services | high |
Frequently asked questions
What are the biggest pain points of managed service providers?
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Where do these pain points come from?
From public posts and comments on Reddit communities for small businesses, founders and MSPs, translated into English and without usernames.