If you asked most MSP owners whether their contracts are up to date, the honest answer would probably be: not entirely. The agreements get written, signed and filed away, and then the business keeps moving. New services get added. Clients get more complex. Regulations shift. But the contracts, more often than not, stay as-is.
That gap between what your agreements say and what your business actually does has a way of staying quiet until something like a client dispute or a vendor incident turns it into a real problem.
This post is not about scaring you into action. It’s about helping you understand where you stand and what a practical first step looks like.
MSP services have changed a lot in the last 10 years. Most MSP contracts haven’t.
Think about what your service delivery looked like a decade ago versus today. Things look a lot different:
- The shift to cloud-first infrastructure
- The addition of cybersecurity services
- The growing reliance on third-party SaaS platforms
- The rise of AI-adjacent offerings
These aren’t small updates. For many MSPs, they represent a fundamental change in what the business does and how it does it.
The problem is that contracts written before these changes were reasonable at the time. They reflected the services, the risks and the regulatory environment at the time. The issue is that many of those same agreements are still in use today, but they cover a business that looks very different. As an example, MSPs are now delivering AI‑related services under contracts that were never built for them.
Outdated contracts aren’t just a legal problem
It’s easy to file all MSP contract issues under “legal risk” and assume that means you’re only exposed if something goes to court. That’s not quite right.
Outdated or inconsistent agreements show up in day-to-day operations more often than most MSPs realize:
- Slow onboarding. When the terms in your agreement don’t match how you actually deliver a service, onboarding slows down while someone figures out what the contract actually covers and what it doesn’t.
- Internal confusion. Sales, operations and account management teams working off agreements that don’t reflect current offerings is a recipe for miscommunication about scope, pricing and responsibilities.
- Scope creep and client disputes. If a client is using services or relying on support that your contract doesn’t clearly address, that ambiguity creates friction, especially at renewal time.
- Friction during renewals and service changes. Adding a new service or renegotiating terms is harder when the existing contract isn’t a solid foundation to build from.
None of these are courtroom scenarios. They’re just the everyday drag that comes from running a business on agreements that haven’t kept pace.
Why generic templates and one-time legal engagements often fall short
A lot of MSPs have tried to solve this problem the obvious way: download a template, get a lawyer to review it once and move on. That approach makes sense on the surface, but it tends to fall short for a few reasons specific to how MSPs operate.
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MSPs aren’t traditional service businesses
MSPs deliver recurring services on an ongoing basis, not one-time projects with a clear end date. They rely heavily on third-party vendors, which creates liability exposure that generic templates typically don’t address.
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There are regulatory nuances to consider
Many MSPs serve clients in industries with specific data handling requirements (healthcare, finance, legal) and operating in those environments without the appropriate data processing agreements in place is a real compliance gap.
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The high pace of change
MSPs continuously add new services. A static agreement from two or three years ago likely doesn’t mention a meaningful portion of what’s being delivered today.
That’s the core of the problem. A one-time legal review gives you a contract that’s accurate on the day it’s signed. What it doesn’t give you is a contract that stays accurate as your business evolves.
Modern MSP agreements should be treated as living documents
The shift in thinking here is from viewing an MSP contract as a deliverable to viewing it as an ongoing part of how the business operates.
What needs to evolve alongside the business:
- New service offerings, including security, compliance, AI-adjacent services and managed cloud
- Regulatory requirements as they develop and change
- Vendor relationships and the liability exposure that comes with them
This is the thinking behind contract-as-a-service (CaaS) platforms like Monjur. Rather than treating legal agreements as a project to complete, the CaaS model treats them as something that needs to stay current over time. Monjur offers attorney-drafted templates built specifically for MSP services, automatic compliance updates when regulations change and integrations with the tools MSPs are already using to run their businesses.
It’s an approach that makes a lot of sense for a type of business that changes as frequently as an MSP does.
You don’t have to change everything at once
The most common reason MSPs don’t act on contract issues is that they’re not sure where to start, and “overhaul all our legal agreements” feels like a large and expensive project.
It doesn’t have to start there.
The first step is just getting a clear picture of where you stand. That means understanding:
- What your current Master Service Agreement (MSA) actually covers
- Where gaps or outdated assumptions might exist
- What’s changed in your service delivery that your contracts may not yet reflect
A few common moments tend to bring this to the surface naturally. If any of these apply to you, it’s worth taking a closer look at your agreements:
- You’re adding a new service line (security, compliance, AI services)
- You’ve gone through or are considering a merger or acquisition
- You’ve had a security incident or a close call with a client dispute
- You have a wave of client renewals coming up
Getting an outside perspective on your existing MSA doesn’t have to be a major commitment. Through Sherweb, partners can connect with a legal professional for a free MSA assessment. There’s no obligation and no pressure to change platforms or switch vendors. It’s a starting point that gives you clarity before you decide on next steps.
Contracts are part of your business foundation
There’s a tendency in the MSP world to treat legal agreements as something to handle early on and revisit only when something goes wrong. But for a business built on ongoing client relationships and vendor dependencies, contracts are the structure that supports everything else.
Growth is harder when your agreements don’t scale with you, and trust is harder to maintain when clients feel like the terms of their relationship with you are unclear. The good news is that closing the gap doesn’t require starting from scratch. It starts with a clear-eyed look at what you have, where it falls short and what it would take to bring it up to speed.
If you’d like to hear more on this topic, the Monjur team recently sat down for a recent episode of the ChannelBuzz.ca podcast: Most MSP contracts wouldn’t survive a courtroom – here’s where to start fixing that. They walk through the most common gaps they see and share a practical checklist for MSPs who know their agreements need attention but aren’t sure where to begin.
Ready to take a closer look at your contracts?
Sherweb can connect you with a legal professional for a free MSA assessment, with no strings attached. It’s a low-risk way to understand where your agreements stand before deciding on next steps. Reach out to your account manager or contact us at partners@sherweb.com to learn more.
If you’re looking for a longer-term way to keep your contracts current as your business grows, Monjur is available on the Sherweb marketplace.
