This article is written by Brad Gross, who is founder and president of the Law Office of Bradley Gross, P.A., a business technology law firm.
How should I convince you that quarterly business reviews (QBRs) are no longer optional? I could rant about how QBRs are an essential and foundational part of your business relationship with your customers, or even scold you for not holding QBRs already.
But no, I won’t do that. Instead, I will give you a dose of reality—and advise you to get a good lawyer on retainer if you still disagree.
The State of the Industry
Submitted for your appraisal are some current situational realities in the MSP industry, in no particular order:
1) Microsoft’s new Extended Service Term (EST) pricing goes into effect after May 4, 2026. The old “free grace period” is going away, and MSPs and their customers must decide immediately whether they want their Microsoft cloud solutions to expire, renew or continue month-to-month at anywhere from a 3% to 23% price uptick. If decisions aren’t made quickly, your customers will see a sharp (and unanticipated) spike in their monthly invoices.
2) Windows 10 support, as well as Exchange Server 2016 and 2019 support, all ended in October 2025. Many businesses have not migrated yet, which means they’re working with machines and operating systems that are outdated. Companies that fail to migrate will experience unavoidable security vulnerabilities and downtime.
3) Despite the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, tariffs have not been fully abolished. Semiconductors still face 25% price increases, which means hardware pricing, availability and refresh cycles are going to change dramatically.
4) There is a worldwide memory shortage, the likes of which we have never seen before. For the next few years, there will be significant supply chain delays that will quadruple or quintuple the estimated delivery dates of critical memory upgrades. In fact, chip manufacturers are almost entirely focused on memory for servers to accommodate AI-related needs, which means you might not be able to get non-server memory at all.
5) There’s a war going on and, consequently, the government’s demands for hardware has risen exponentially. When the government (with its deep pockets) tells manufacturers, “Give us everything you’ve got,” the manufacturers respond by selling their inventories to the government—at top dollar. This leaves MSPs holding the proverbial short end of the procurement stick.
Of course, this is in addition to the fact that your customers have unrealistic service expectations, do not fully understand the services you facilitate and have no idea about new technologies that would make their networks more secure from attack. See the problem?
Why QBRs Are Your Lifeline
As vendor pricing models change, support lifecycles shrink, hardware costs rise and renewals become more complicated, you need a structured and recurring way to communicate with your customers. Without that communication cadence, you will be exposed to expensive and avoidable disputes.
From now on, your silence is going to be expensive, and that is why QBRs matter now more than ever.
QBRs are no longer just a customer-service activity. They are a risk-management tool.
Now perhaps you’re thinking, “Well, I give advice informally, so QBRs aren’t important.” If that’s your position, then retain a good lawyer immediately, because you’ll need one. If a dispute arises, your informal advice will be quickly replaced with accusations of “How could this happen,” “You didn’t tell me,” or “You should have been clearer.” QBRs convert casual conversations into documented business communications, and that documentation will be your first—and best—defense against accusations of mismanagement and miscommunication.
Maybe you’re thinking, “I don’t have regular QBRs because my customers never attend them.” If that’s how you’re handling things now, then consider this: If your customers fail to participate in a QBR and, as a result, there are mismanaged expectations, who will be held liable? Do you think you’ll be able to defend your position by saying, “Hey, you didn’t show up to our meetings, so you didn’t learn what you needed to know?”
What if your customer responded by asking, “Why didn’t you e-mail me? Why didn’t you simply tell me what I needed to know in an e-mail or a letter?” That’s a fair question, for which you will not have a good answer. Cue the lawyers. Ugh.
QBRs Keep You Covered
Starting today, I want you to have regular QBRs with your customers in which you discuss everything from renewals and pricing risks to procurement and strategic planning. If there are solutions that could better assist your customer or make their managed networks safer or more secure, discuss it with them. It does not matter if they decline your advice; it only matters that you provided your advice to them in a clear, unambiguous, and documented manner.
If a customer refuses to participate in your scheduled QBRs, then put what you want to say in writing and send it to them. Communicate—even if it is only one-way. You need to be able to show that, despite your customers’ inaction, you notified them about the issues that were important to them and you. Implement good QBR practices, and you’ll have a better relationship with your customers—and potentially cut your legal bills by 90% or more.
For more legal advice, check out Gross’ most recent article, on what to do if your MSP client sells their business and leaves you footing the bill.
