How MSPs are solving the compliance bottleneck

Fifty Clients, One Platform

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Let me guess your situation.

You're an MSP. You've got - what, twenty clients? Fifty? More? And in the last two years, every single one of them has started asking about Cyber Essentials.

Government contracts require it. Their bigger clients are demanding it. Their insurance is asking about it. And suddenly, you're not just managing their IT - you're their compliance department too.

Except you didn't sign up for this. And it doesn't scale.

I've talked to dozens of MSPs over the past couple of years. The story is always the same: compliance work is eating them alive. The same questions, over and over. The same evidence gathering. The same hand-holding through certification. Multiplied by every client in their portfolio.

There's a better way. Let me show you what we've figured out.

The Bottleneck

Here's what compliance looks like for most MSPs right now:

Client asks about Cyber Essentials. You explain what it is, what's involved, what they'll need to do.

You assess their current state. Go through their systems, identify gaps, figure out what needs fixing.

You fix what needs fixing. Firewall configs, password policies, patch management - the actual technical work.

You help them answer the questions. Translate the Cyber Essentials requirements into language they understand. Guide them through each answer.

You gather evidence. Screenshots, logs, policy documents - everything needed to back up their answers.

You submit and hope. Cross your fingers. Deal with any queries. Celebrate when they pass.

Repeat for the next client.

Now multiply that by your entire client base. Every one of them needs the same process. You're doing the same work fifty times over.

And here's the killer: most of that work isn't even technical. It's translation. Explanation. Hand-holding. The soft stuff that takes forever and doesn't feel like "real" MSP work.

You became an MSP because you're good with technology. Now you're spending half your time explaining what "boundary firewall" means to business owners who just want someone to handle this for them.

What's Actually Eating Your Time

I did an informal survey of MSPs we work with. Asked them where the time actually goes on compliance work.

20% - Technical remediation. The actual fixing of things. Configuring firewalls, setting up policies, patching systems. The stuff you're good at.

30% - Assessment and evidence gathering. Auditing client systems, documenting current state, collecting screenshots and logs.

50% - Client communication. Explaining requirements. Translating jargon. Answering the same questions you answered for the last client. Hand-holding through the certification process.

Half the time is communication. Half.

That's not a technical problem. That's a process problem. And process problems need process solutions.

The Platform Approach

Here's what changes when you bring TransCrypt into your MSP workflow.

The platform handles translation.

Your clients log in and see questions in plain English, contextualised to their specific setup. They don't need you to explain what "secure configuration" means - the AI does that, with examples relevant to their situation.

You're not the translator anymore. The platform is.

The platform guides their answers.

Instead of sitting with each client, walking them through every question, the platform does it. Real-time guidance. Flag potential issues before submission. Help them self-correct.

You set them up, check in periodically, review before submission. You don't need to be there for every click.

The platform organises evidence.

Everything's stored, linked, timestamped. When a client answers a question about their password policy, the policy document is attached right there. Audit trail built automatically.

No more chasing clients for evidence. No more hunting through email threads for that screenshot they sent three weeks ago.

The platform scales.

Here's the big one: the same platform works for all your clients. Same interface, same process, same logic - but contextualised to each client's setup.

You're not reinventing the wheel for every certification. You're running the same efficient process, multiplied.

The MSP Dashboard

This is the bit that matters for you specifically.

TransCrypt has an MSP view. One dashboard showing all your clients. Where they are in the process. What's blocking them. Who needs attention.

Instead of juggling fifty separate conversations, you've got one view of everything. Traffic light status. Alerts for clients who've stalled. Progress tracking across your entire portfolio.

You can see at a glance: Client A is nearly done, Client B is stuck on access control questions, Client C hasn't logged in for two weeks.

Triage becomes possible. You focus your time where it's actually needed, not where clients shout loudest.

The Numbers

Let me give you some real metrics from MSPs using this approach.

Time per certification: Down 60-70% compared to manual process. The platform handles the translation and guidance work.

Client questions to MSP: Down 50%+. Because the platform answers most questions in real-time.

Evidence gathering time: Down 80%. Because it's organised as you go, not scrambled at the end.

Certifications per month: Up 3-4x. Because you can run multiple clients through simultaneously without losing your mind.

One MSP I know went from treating Cyber Essentials as a "special project" - one client at a time, all hands on deck - to running it as a standard service. Ongoing. Scalable. Profitable.

The Revenue Angle

Let's talk business for a minute.

Cyber Essentials certification is a service your clients will pay for. They need it. They don't want to do it themselves. They're already paying you to handle their IT.

But if it takes you twenty hours per client, the margins don't work. You either undercharge and lose money, or charge what it's worth and price yourself out.

With the platform approach, you're looking at maybe five to eight hours per client. Some of that is the platform subscription cost, but the time saving more than covers it.

Suddenly, compliance is a viable service line. Recurring, even - certifications need annual renewal. Every client, every year, paying for your help to stay certified.

That's not a burden. That's a business model.

What You Still Do

I'm not saying the platform replaces you. It doesn't. You're still essential.

Initial setup. Getting clients onto the platform, configuring their profile, making sure it reflects their actual setup.

Technical remediation. When the assessment identifies gaps, you're the one fixing them. That's your core skill.

Review and quality control. Before submission, you check their answers. Make sure nothing's been misunderstood. Catch issues the platform might miss.

Ongoing relationship. You're still their MSP. The platform handles compliance; you handle everything else. And now you've got time for everything else.

The platform takes the repetitive, time-consuming, doesn't-require-your-expertise work. You keep the stuff that actually needs you.

Getting Started

If you're an MSP looking at this, here's what the onboarding typically looks like:

Week 1: Platform setup. Get your MSP dashboard configured. Understand the interface.

Week 2-3: Pilot clients. Put two or three through the process. Learn the workflow. Identify your own efficiencies.

Week 4+: Scale. Start onboarding more clients. Build it into your service offering. Systematise.

Most MSPs are fully up and running within a month. The platform's designed to be learnable - if I can figure it out, you definitely can.

The Honest Take

Is this approach perfect? No.

Some clients will still need hand-holding. Some situations are too complex for any platform. Some people just want to talk to a human, no matter how good the AI guidance is.

But for the majority of your clients - the straightforward SMEs who just need Cyber Essentials to tick a box and move on - the platform handles 80% of what used to be your job.

That 80% is the bit that was burning you out. The repetitive bit. The "I've explained this a hundred times" bit.

Free yourself from that, and you've got time to actually grow your business. Take on more clients. Offer better service. Maybe even take a weekend off occasionally.

The Pitch

Look, I know this reads like a sales pitch. It kind of is. I believe in this platform - I've helped build it, I use it every day, I've seen what it does for MSPs.

But the underlying point isn't "buy our thing." It's "compliance doesn't have to break you."

There are ways to scale this work. Ways to systematise it. Ways to turn a burden into a service line.

If TransCrypt isn't right for you, find something that is. Build your own process. Hire someone. Do something.

Because your clients all need Cyber Essentials, and that's not changing. The only question is whether you drown in it or figure out how to swim.

Fifty clients. One platform. It's possible.

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Danny Preece is Head of Technical Sales at Simpson & Sons and an SME Cyber Resilience Consultant with TransCrypt. He spends a lot of time talking to MSPs and has learned that the phrase "compliance burden" makes them visibly twitch.