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11/06/2026 11:29 pm
TL;DR: MSPs are being pushed away from commoditised patching and help desk work toward higher-value services such as Zero Trust, managed identity, and unified endpoint management, according to JumpCloud. The pricing pressure is real, but the strategic shift is less about adding tools than about owning the access and security outcomes clients will pay to retain.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by JumpCloud: guidance on high-margin MSP services for identity and Zero Trust
Questions worth separating out
Q: How can MSPs move from commodity support to higher-margin identity services?
A: MSPs should build recurring services around access governance, SSO administration, MFA policy, and privileged access oversight.
Q: Why does managed identity create more value than basic help desk work?
A: Managed identity creates value because it affects how every user and workload gets access, not just how quickly incidents are closed.
Q: When does Zero Trust become a profitable MSP service?
A: Zero Trust becomes profitable when it is delivered as an operating model with identity policy, privilege control, and ongoing verification.
Practitioner guidance
- Define which identity services are truly recurring Separate low-value support from services that require ongoing governance, such as SSO administration, MFA policy maintenance, and privileged access reviews.
- Tie Zero Trust delivery to access evidence Build service packages around verified identity signals, policy enforcement, and continuous access review instead of generic perimeter language.
- Govern endpoint administration with privilege controls Align UEM operations with privileged access management so device control, local admin rights, and support exceptions are not handled as separate processes.
What's in the full article
JumpCloud's full article covers the commercial packaging and MSP positioning detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- How JumpCloud frames managed identity, Zero Trust, and UEM as recurring MSP offerings
- The specific ways the article links service diversification to margin improvement and client retention
- Operational positioning guidance for MSPs trying to move away from basic patching and help desk work
👉 Read JumpCloud's guidance on high-margin MSP services for identity and Zero Trust →
Managed identity and zero trust: what MSPs should prioritise?
Explore further
12/06/2026 8:09 am
Identity has become the anchor service that lets MSPs escape commodity pricing. Patching and help desk work are easy to compare on cost, which is why margins collapse. Managed identity, by contrast, is a governance function that clients struggle to standardise internally. The market signal is clear: the MSPs that can own access outcomes, not just tickets, will be treated as strategic operators rather than interchangeable support vendors.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 70% of organisations grant AI systems more access than they would give a human employee performing the exact same job, according to The 2026 Infrastructure Identity Survey.
- 69% of security leaders agree identity management must fundamentally shift to address agentic AI systems, according to The 2026 Infrastructure Identity Survey.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How should MSPs connect UEM with identity governance?
A: MSPs should treat endpoint administration and identity governance as a single service boundary. Local admin rights, device policy changes, and support exceptions should be governed alongside access approvals and privilege review. That reduces the chance that endpoint control is technically centralised but operationally unmanaged.
👉 Read our full editorial: Managed identity and zero trust are the new MSP margin levers
