Why ERP Application Managers Are Breaking Up with MSPs—and Why You Should Too

Introduction: Breaking the Cycle of Reactiveness

Is your vendor helping you fuel the cycle of reactiveness and unplanned work, or are they actively helping you break free from it?

As an Application Manager, you juggle two critical priorities: keeping systems stable and driving change. Stability creates the foundation necessary to maintain a high Change Success Rate (CSR) and increase your Throughput of Effective Change (TEC), enabling you to execute transformative initiatives.

That’s where Managed Service Providers (MSPs) come in—or so you’d hope. While MSPs are responsible for keeping your ERP systems running, their role often doesn’t go beyond the basics. They’ll fix issues, resolve the tickets you assign to them, and complete tasks—but only if you explicitly tell them what to do.

And here’s the kicker: MSPs typically have skill sets limited to supporting the ERP product itself, leaving the rest of your IT operations unsupported. But it’s not just about technical talent—it’s also about operational wisdom. A true partner brings guidance, insight, and strategic direction to help you navigate the complexities of your IT ecosystem. Unfortunately, you won’t find this level of partnership with most narrow-focused vendors.

This transactional, reactive relationship doesn’t help you strengthen your operations or reduce unplanned work. Without proactive improvements, automation recommendations, or visibility into your environment’s health, your ability to innovate is stifled.

MSPs: Missing the Point

Most MSPs are designed to react, not anticipate. They focus narrowly on fixing what’s broken today, with little thought for how their actions—or inaction—affect your future.

Here’s where MSPs fall short:

Reactive, Not Proactive: They resolve tickets and fulfill requests you assign to them but rarely take the initiative to strengthen your ERP environment or address underlying issues
Limited Skill Sets and Operational Wisdom: MSPs often have expertise limited to the ERP software itself, leaving gaps in areas like IT service operations, infrastructure, and strategic planning. They also lack the ability to guide your organization with insight or provide the foresight needed to align IT operations with business goals.
No Transparency: MSPs often fail to provide visibility into what they’re doing or why, leaving you in the dark about the health of your systems.
No Recommendations for Automation: Think about it—when was the last time your MSP suggested automating some of their own billable work to improve efficiency? Probably never.
No Strategic Alignment: ERP systems are critical to IT operations and business growth, yet MSPs often fail to align their work with your broader goals.

Without a vendor that combines technical expertise with operational wisdom and a proactive approach, you’re left managing recurring issues and inefficiencies while juggling the complexities of a modern IT ecosystem.

A Narrow Definition of Responsibility

MSPs operate with a limited sense of responsibility. They focus narrowly on keeping your systems running but rarely go beyond that to improve long-term reliability or efficiency.

No Root Cause Analysis: MSPs address surface-level symptoms without resolving underlying problems, leading to recurring incidents that drain resources and erode trust.
No Focus on Metrics: Key metrics like CSR and TEC aren’t monitored or shared, leaving you unable to gauge the true health of your environment.
No Recommendations for Automation: Collaboration sessions with MSPs rarely include discussions about reducing manual workloads or streamlining processes through automation. Why? Because maintaining the status quo benefits their bottom line more than yours.
No Transparency: MSPs often operate without providing clarity into their actions, making it difficult for you to evaluate their effectiveness or align their efforts with your strategic goals.
Limited Breadth of Skills: MSPs often lack expertise beyond the ERP software itself, leaving critical IT operations unsupported. This limitation creates silos and forces you to manage the gaps yourself.

Example:

A poorly executed change disrupts ERP performance, creating downtime and user frustration. Your MSP fixes the immediate issue but doesn’t evaluate why the change failed—or how to prevent similar failures in the future. Worse, they don’t share the details of their fix, leaving your team guessing about what went wrong and whether it might happen again.

The Cost of Staying Reactive

A vendor who only reacts to problems actively holds you back—not just operationally but financially.

Recurring Problems: Without root cause analysis, recurring issues drain resources, frustrate users, and erode trust in IT.
Missed Opportunities for Automation: Manual tasks that could be automated continue to waste time and effort, limiting your team’s capacity for strategic work.
Blind Spots in Stability: With no visibility into key metrics like CSR or TEC, you’re left guessing whether your environment is truly stable.
Stalled Innovation: Time and resources spent on unplanned work mean less focus on executing changes that drive transformation.
No Insight into Your True Run Rate: Most MSPs fail to help you determine the true cost of keeping the lights on. Without transparent tracking or analysis, you’re left guessing whether your resources are being used efficiently—or if you’re overspending.

Example:

Your organization is paying a fixed fee for services that don’t align with your actual usage or needs. Without a clear view of your true run rate, inefficiencies go unnoticed, and you continue to overspend on services that provide little value.

Allari Difference: Breaking the Cycle

At Allari, we go beyond the basics of keeping your ERP systems running. Our approach integrates IT Service Operations maturity to help you stabilize your environment, uncover your true run rate, and increase your TEC.

Here’s how we’re different:

We Proactively Strengthen Your Operations
- Root Cause Analysis Done Right: We don’t stop at resolving tickets—we dig deeper to identify and eliminate the underlying causes of recurring issues. Our approach includes proper help desk (companywide or ERP focused) dispatching integrated with CMDB efforts to ensure that RCA is conducted efficiently and effectively. By mapping system dependencies and workflows through the CMDB, we streamline issue resolution and provide actionable insights that prevent future disruptions.
- Transparent Metrics: Metrics like CSR, TEC, and incident resolution times are tracked and shared, giving you full visibility into your system’s health.
- Proactive Recommendations: We don’t just react; we suggest changes that improve stability and efficiency before issues arise.
We Embed Processes That Drive Stability
- Proactive Maintenance: Regular patching, configuration reviews, and preventative measures minimize risks.
- Quarterly Vulnerability Management: We perform comprehensive vulnerability assessments every quarter, identifying and mitigating potential security risks before they impact your operations.
- Configuration Management Database (CMDB): By mapping system dependencies, we streamline troubleshooting and change execution.
- Structured Change Management: While this is often a tactical process implemented by your team, our expert knowledge ensures that every change—whether an update, integration, or enhancement—is planned and executed smoothly, reducing the risk of disruptions.
We Identify and Implement Automation
- Task Optimization: We actively recommend automating repetitive tasks, reducing manual workloads and increasing efficiency.
- Process Streamlining: Automation initiatives free your team to focus on high-value work instead of routine fixes.
We Provide Financial Clarity with a Pay-for-Use Model
- True Run Rate Visibility: Our pay-for-use model ensures you only pay for what you use, giving you a clear understanding of your operational costs.
- Cost Optimization: With transparency into your run rate, we help you uncover inefficiencies and suggest ways to reduce costs while improving service quality.
We Have the Breadth to Support Complex IT Operations
- Beyond ERP Expertise: Unlike traditional MSPs, Allari supports the full spectrum of IT operations, from infrastructure to automation and data analytics.
- Integrated IT Operations Support: Our team ensures your ERP system is fully aligned with the rest of your IT ecosystem, driving efficiency and innovation across the board.

Conclusion: Break the Cycle, Achieve Excellence

Ask yourself: Is your vendor helping you fuel the cycle of reactiveness and unplanned work, or are they helping you break it?

MSPs may keep your ERP systems running, but they won’t help you build the stability needed to innovate and grow. Their reactive, transactional approach and limited skill sets leave you stuck in a cycle of recurring issues and inefficiencies, with no clear path to becoming a high-performing IT organization.

At Allari, we take a different approach. By prioritizing transparency, automation, and proactive planning—and by supporting the full breadth of IT operations—we help you break the cycle of reactiveness and achieve operational excellence. With Allari, you’ll gain more than just a service provider—you’ll gain a partner dedicated to your success.