João Vicente is Vice President at CGI, one of the world’s largest IT and business consulting firms. With decades of experience leading technology operations at scale, he has seen first-hand what it takes for service providers to grow beyond their comfort zone and compete on a national and international stage.
At MSP GLOBAL 2025, João will join industry leaders for the panel discussion From Ambition to Acceleration: How to Scale Like a Top-Tier MSP. Moderated by Laurent Allard, former CEO of OVHcloud, the session will dig into the realities of scaling where vision, operational maturity, and bold strategic bets matter just as much as tools and talent.
This conversation promises a candid look at the decisions that successful leaders must make—often under pressure—in terms of structure and strategy. They’ll share the lessons they learned to save the audience some stress and pain on their own journeys.Ahead of the session, we sat down with João to talk about what scaling really looks like in practice: the importance of operational maturity, the role of partnerships and internal relationships, how to balance standardization with client-specific needs, and the people-first strategies that keep growth sustainable.
How important is operational maturity in scaling successfully, and what does that look like in practice for MSPs?
For any new business engagement, it is essential to thoroughly understand the client, assess their needs, and establish clear priorities. As you know, in my activity we are more focused on infrastructure management and in this case well-structured CMDB (Configuration Management Database), and effective CMDB-related monitoring tools are critical to building a strong operational foundation. All these elements must align with the contract and the agreed-upon SLAs, as they are fundamental to long-term success.
MSPs must invest effort early on to gain a deep understanding of the client and their requirements, ensuring they have the right data and tools in place, especially around the CMDB, to manage services effectively. Service delivery cannot be ad hoc: the teams handling tickets and client issues must recognize both the importance of the solutions they provide and the urgency with which they must act.
While this ties directly to SLAs, it goes beyond that. It’s ultimately about maintaining the availability, stability, and proper functioning of the client’s systems and, by extension, their business operations. That is the true priority.
What roles do partnerships and good relationships play in helping MSPs expand both their reach and what they’re capable of?
This is really about the initial assessment. Every client is different, so MSPs need to understand what each one needs and what kind of service to put in place. Getting it right at the start makes everything easier down the road knowing what you’re dealing with upfront helps the most.
It therefore means that the logic of partnerships is fundamental, whether for specific support or to continue the evolution of the service aligned with the solutions used, including the preparation and training for technical teams.
How should MSPs think about evolving their service structure as they scale—especially when balancing standardization with client-specific needs?
This forms part of the initial assessment. Each client has different needs and MSPs need to correctly understand what the needs are and what kind of service they have to prepare to provide to each client. And again, I believe it’s about doing a good job in the beginning at assessment stage: understanding what you have in front of you will help most.
For MSPs considering acquisition or preparing for investment, what are the most important factors they should focus on to make themselves attractive and ready for the next stage?
Preparation is key especially when it comes to training. At CGI, most of our team already have strong technical expertise, which allows us to efficiently train and support the rest of the team.
From an investment perspective, CGI has made several acquisitions over the past three years, including experts in MSP services. This has strengthened our competitiveness, expanded our capabilities, and broadened our skills.
At the core, it comes down to having the right tools and the right people to manage clients. This may mean adapting existing tools, investing in new ones, or leveraging AI to deliver better services. Ultimately, the goal is always to provide excellent service.
But this is, above all, a people business. That’s why people must come first to attract new talent, recognize ambition, and retain key skills. Training is crucial not only in technical expertise, but also in the soft skills that build strong client relationships and effective service delivery.
Can you share an example from your own experience where a bold strategic decision helped accelerate growth at CGI or another organization you’ve worked with?
Three years ago, our strategic plan focused on resolving client issues at the very first call.
At the time, we had a 24/7 “control bridge” team that received tickets and passed them on to L2 technicians working overnight. While effective then, we aimed higher. Our goal was to resolve most tickets at the first stage.
To achieve this, we introduced automation to structure and resolve a large portion of tickets automatically. This freed up L2 technicians to focus on higher-value work such as training, certifications, and learning new technologies.
It’s a win-win process: clients get faster resolutions, our team gains knowledge and career growth opportunities, morale improves, and overall efficiency increases.And this is a theme that continues to be developed through AI tools developed by CGI (IP’s) that take us to the next stage of automation and efficiency. It is important to have a suite of modular tools across the entire chain for each process, from support to testing, including AMS and IMS, security, etc.
In your view, what does success look like for an MSP in the process of scaling?
A well-established model benefits both companies and providers. Scale enables highly specialized capabilities that smaller setups can’t match, which is especially important for pricing. MSP services are generally broader and more cost-effective than building the same capabilities in-house.
With more clients comes greater scope, diversity, and exposure to new technologies and expertise. But growth must go hand in hand with efficiency.
In the MSP we need critical size to be big enough to scale, but small enough to care—while also maintaining proximity with the business.
Rapid growth can bring challenges, but profitability and steady revenue are essential to reinvest in people and ensure sustainable expansion.
Join João and fellow industry leaders for the panel discussion From Ambition to Acceleration: How to Scale Like a Top-Tier MSP, on Thursday October 23rd, 2pm-2.35pm in the Acronis Security Arena.
October 22-23, 2025 – 
PortAventura Theme Park (Barcelona), Spain