If you're a communications service provider (CSP), you already know the math isn't working like it used to. ARPU is shrinking 2% year-over-year. Voice revenue is flat or falling. And 35% of telecom customers switched providers last year just to save a few bucks. You're working harder for less.
But there's a revenue stream sitting right in front of you that most CSPs haven't tapped yet: managed IT services. Your customers are already buying them from someone, and right now that someone is an MSP eating into wallet share that could be yours.
The good news is AI is accelerating the convergence of telecom and IT services, which means the barrier to entry just got a lot lower. Monitoring, security, troubleshooting... it's all getting automated. You don't need a room full of IT techs to offer these services anymore. The platforms exist now to manage endpoints the same way you manage networks: continuously, remotely, and efficiently. And you've already got a NOC, a support desk, and billing infrastructure that works. Adding IT services isn't about starting from scratch. It's about using what you've built.
This guide shows you how to go from zero to billing for managed IT services in 30 days.
Most CSPs think adding IT services means starting from scratch. Hiring a bunch of new people. Building out a security operations center. Learning a completely different business. With modern automation tools, that's not how this works.
Look at what you've already got:
You're already handling customer issues around the clock. Your team knows how to triage problems, manage SLAs, and keep customers happy when things break. IT support follows the same model. Instead of troubleshooting a dropped call, you're troubleshooting a slow laptop. The skill set transfers directly.
You track network performance across your entire customer base. You know when something goes down before your customers do. Endpoint monitoring works the same way. Different devices, same concept. You're watching for problems and fixing them before they escalate.
You've already figured out how to route issues to the right people at the right time. Urgent tickets get prioritized. Routine stuff gets handled in order. That workflow doesn't change when you add IT services. The tickets just come from a different source.
You bill for recurring subscriptions and usage-based billing services on the same invoice. You handle prorations, overages, and contract terms without breaking a sweat. That's one of the hardest operational problems in tech, and you've already solved it. Most MSPs are still duct-taping their billing together.
64% of SMBs say they'd buy business and productivity tools from their telco if you offered them. They're not looking for another vendor. They're looking for the vendor they already work with to do more. That's you.
The difference between a CSP and an MSP isn't capability. It's focus. MSPs took the same playbook you use for network services and applied it to endpoints. You can do the same thing, except you've got a head start. You already have the customer relationships and billing infrastructure they spent years building from nothing.
The most common reason CSPs don't offer IT services is headcount. "We'd need to hire a whole IT team." "We don't have the staff to support it." "The labor costs would eat the margins."
Five years ago, that was true. Adding IT services meant technicians manually checking systems, applying patches, monitoring logs, and responding to alerts one by one. The math didn't work unless you were operating at serious scale.
That's not the case anymore.
Modern managed services aren't built around reactive labor. They're built on automation, continuous visibility, and repeatable workflows. Three foundational services made this shift possible:
RMM gives you immediate visibility into customer endpoints while automating routine tasks like patching, health checks, and alerting. 60% of managed service providers say automation is the single most valuable feature in their RMM platform. The routine stuff runs in the background without anyone touching it.
EDR continuously monitors for threats and suspicious behavior. It lets you deliver enterprise-grade security without building a dedicated security operations team. The platform does the heavy lifting. Your team handles the exceptions.
Cloud backup services protect customer data automatically and validate recoverability without manual oversight. When ransomware hits, and it will, you're the provider who kept their business running.
When these three services are paired with Professional Services Automation (PSA), you can deliver managed IT services using the same team that's already supporting voice and connectivity. You're not adding headcount. You're giving your existing team smarter tools.
One MSP reported that switching to an automated platform saved them the equivalent of a full-time employee's salary in efficiency gains. The technology didn't replace anyone. It just made the team they already had way more productive.
If headcount has been the thing holding you back, it's time to let that go. The tools have caught up.
You've got the infrastructure. You've got customers who want to buy more from you. And the tools exist to do this without hiring a bunch of new people. Now it's about putting it into action.
Here's a week-by-week breakdown to get you from zero to billing for IT services in 30 days.
Don't overthink this. Start with the services every business needs: RMM, managed security, and backup. These are the easiest to sell because you don't have to convince anyone they need them. They already know.
The goal here is repeatability, not perfection.
This is where PSA software earns its keep. Without it, you're just adding services and hoping your team figures it out. With it, you've got a system.
This is how support becomes predictable, measurable, and scalable.
Before you sell this to customers, test it on yourself. Use your own team as the guinea pig.
This step builds confidence and lets you work out the kinks before there's a customer on the other end.
You've built the catalog. You've set up the workflows. You've tested it internally. Now it's time to sell.
By day 30, you're not planning anymore. You're billing.
Revenue is vanity. Margin is sanity. Plenty of service providers add IT services and end up working harder for the same profit, or worse. The difference between CSPs who build real margin and those who just add revenue comes down to operational integration.
When your RMM, PSA, and billing systems work together as a unified stack:
This is how CSPs increase ARPU, reduce churn, and protect margins without proportionally increasing operational overhead. The IT & telecom sector already accounts for roughly 18-19% of global IT services spending—there's real money available for providers who execute with discipline.
You've got the infrastructure, customers who trust you, and tools that handle the heavy lifting. Adding IT services isn't about becoming a different company. It's about doing more with what you've already built.
But the thing that ties it all together is PSA. Without it, you're just bolting on services and hoping for the best. With it, alerts become tickets, tickets become action, and action becomes revenue.
Rev.io PSA was built for CSPs. It integrates with your existing billing, connects with RMM and security tools, and gives your team one place to manage everything.