Zoom In: 'Everyone's a bit nervous at the moment' - Logicalis Group CEO on returning to work and emerging from lockdown

Logicalis Group has been talking to customers about whether they will be willing to re-open their sites, as governments around the world begin to ease COVID-19 lockdown measures.

CEO Bob Bailkoski, who took the helm of the $1.7bn-revenue firm in March, told CPI that he sees no urgency to return to an office-based scenario in any of its markets, but noted that a small minorty of its services will be affected by not physically returning on-site.

"It does have an impact on our business, of course, because some of the services that we offer require some kind of on-site activity to be done.

"And if our customers are a bit cautious about opening their sites, that means that, in certain circumstances, we're not able to complete work that we are required to do. So we've been keeping a very close eye on that aspect with our customers.

"But essentially, I think everyone's a bit nervous at the moment."

In the same week that EasyJet went public with a large-scale data breach of more than nine million customer records, Bailkoski noted that the competition for security skills within the managed service market will be more apparent than ever.

In November, the global IT security skills shortage surpassed four million,  according to the cybersecurity trade group ISC².

Bailkoski said that MSPs who have been able to impress end-users during lockdown may emerge with more opportunities to convince customers to adopt more technologies and sevices.

"I do think that the shortage in security skills will be a boost for those providers that can offer managed security services from fewer locations where they've consolidated their resources," he said.

"That's the only way I can see organisations getting to grips with the real scarcity, which will become more apparent." 

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• Topics
• Solution Provider
• Logicalis Group
• COVID-19
• Bob Bailkoski
• MSP
• lockdown
• MSP opportunities