Why Connectivity Is the Next Growth Opportunity for Managed Service Providers

Learn how NaaS helps MSPs add connectivity services and respond faster to customers without building a global network.

For many Managed Service Providers (MSPs), connectivity is still the part of a customer solution they control the least. An MSP may manage the cloud environment and secure access to it, but adding a circuit can still mean carrier lead times and manual coordination. Options may also narrow when the customer enters a new market.

This reality doesn’t match with customer expectations. Today, most customers want infrastructure to move at cloud speed, and the network now determines how quickly most cloud and managed services can be delivered.

This makes connectivity more than an operational piece for MSPs. When delivered as a managed service, it can expand an MSP’s portfolio and create recurring revenue. It can also strengthen the MSP’s role in a customer’s infrastructure strategy.

Why are customers asking more of their connectivity?

Hybrid cloud, multicloud, SaaS, and AI workloads have changed what business networks need to connect. Applications and data may sit across several clouds and data centers, while users and partners access them from different regions.

Customers are less interested in the mechanics of circuits than in what the network lets them do. They want to know:

• How quickly can we connect to a new cloud provider?
• Can we change bandwidth for a project without waiting weeks?
• How do we connect multiple cloud environments privately?
• Can we expand into another region without redesigning the network?

These are business questions with networking answers. If connectivity takes months to provision or is difficult to change, it can delay the services built on top of it. MSPs that can address the network as part of the wider solution are better placed to remove that friction for customers.

When does connectivity become a managed service?

Connectivity becomes a managed service when an MSP takes responsibility for the customer outcome, not simply the underlying connection. Going the extra mile for customers can include designing the network, provisioning services, monitoring performance, and adapting capacity as requirements change.

An MSP might use connectivity as a service to:

• connect customer environments privately to cloud providers and data centers
• build hybrid and multicloud network architectures
• add redundant paths to support application resilience
• adjust bandwidth around migrations or changing demand.

The value lies in combining these capabilities with services the MSP already provides. Cloud management becomes more complete when the MSP can manage the path into the cloud. Security services become easier to apply consistently when connectivity is part of the design. Customers will benefit from having just one partner with a clearer view of how their infrastructure fits together.

Why traditional networking constrains MSP growth

Traditional network expansion can require new infrastructure and separate carrier agreements. Provisioning must also often be handled location by location. For an MSP, that creates a difficult choice: invest ahead of demand, or accept longer lead times when a customer needs something new.

The operating burden grows as the service footprint expands. Each provider may have different contracts and processes, while changes can involve manual handoffs, making it harder to deliver a consistent customer experience across markets.

This model can also tie skilled teams to provisioning work. Time spent coordinating basic network changes is time they cannot spend improving a customer’s architecture or developing higher-value services.

How Network as a Service changes the model

Network as a Service (NaaS) gives MSPs software-based access to network services without requiring them to build the underlying global infrastructure. Connections can be provisioned on demand and managed through a portal or API, and capacity can then be adjusted as customer needs change.

For MSPs, this can improve the economics and delivery of connectivity in several ways:

• Faster service delivery: Software-based provisioning can shorten the time between a customer request and an active service.
• Lower expansion barriers: MSPs can reach more locations and providers without establishing physical infrastructure in every market.
• More flexible services: Bandwidth and connection terms can be matched more closely to projects or changing workloads.
• Recurring revenue: Connectivity can become part of a broader managed offering instead of a pass-through cost.

The resulting operating model allows MSPs to spend more time on service design and customer outcomes, and less time on network admin.

What should an MSP look for in a NaaS partner?

The right NaaS platform should support the MSP’s service model, not force customers into a narrow set of options. Four areas matter:

1. Reach and ecosystem: The platform should connect to the clouds and data centers customers use now, with room to support new providers or regions later.
2. Software-based control: MSP teams should be able to provision, adjust, manage, and monitor services without relying on slow manual processes.
3. Commercial flexibility: Contract terms and bandwidth options should support both steady-state environments and shorter-term projects.
4. Partner enablement: The provider should offer tools and resources that help the MSP sell and deliver the service, then manage and support it effectively.

These capabilities determine whether NaaS removes operational work or merely moves it somewhere else.

How Megaport helps MSPs add connectivity services

Megaport gives MSPs access to a global, software-defined connectivity platform through one operational model. The Megaport Ecosystem covers 1,200 + enabled locations across 31 countries and provides access to 410+ service providers.

Through the platform, MSPs can connect customers to services including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud. They can also reach data centers and other infrastructure providers — including Internet Exchanges — without building a separate relationship and provisioning model for every connection.

The Megaport Partner Program is designed for resellers including MSPs and Network Service Providers that want to add NaaS to their portfolios. It combines access to the platform with enablement resources and support for developing new business.

MSPs can wrap that connectivity into their existing managed services to deepen customer relationships; instead of competing on access to a circuit, they can differentiate through how well they design and manage the wider customer environment.

Connectivity is becoming part of the MSP value proposition

With more distributed infrastructure, connectivity decisions affect the performance and resilience of almost every service an MSP manages. Leaving the network outside the managed service boundary limits how quickly the MSP can respond when a customer adds a cloud or changes a workload. The same problem appears when the customer enters a new region.

NaaS gives MSPs another option. It allows them to add network services without building a global carrier footprint, then manage those services with the flexibility customers already expect from cloud infrastructure.

The larger opportunity is to make connectivity part of a better-managed infrastructure service — one that can change as quickly as the customer’s business does.

Explore the Megaport Partner Program to see how on-demand connectivity can fit into your managed services portfolio.