· Richard Shuker · Community · 3 min read
Appointed to facilitate the NG Scale SLI Essentials Peer Group
Richard Shuker has been appointed to facilitate Network Group’s new NG Scale SLI Essentials Peer Group, alongside Jez Nolan of Ingenious IT. The first members met in Glasgow.
I’m delighted to announce that I’ve been appointed to facilitate Network Group’s new NG Scale SLI Essentials Peer Group, alongside Jez Nolan of Ingenious IT.
The first members of the group met today at the Hilton Glasgow on William Street, as part of Network Group’s Gala, Exhibition & Awards 2026. Watch Network Group’s highlights from the event.
Why me
There are three reasons I was asked, and why I said yes.
1. A long-term member and advocate of Network Group. When I owned an MSP, I was a long-term member and advocate of Network Group. I’ve seen first-hand what an honest, well-run peer community does for an owner-managed business, and I’ve written before about the power of community.
2. A certified SLI and SLIQ coach. I’m a certified Service Leadership coach for SLI and SLIQ. With the Service Leadership Index at the heart of the group, knowing how to read the benchmarks, and which questions they should prompt, is central to the job.
3. A proven board advisor for MSPs. I spent 26 years inside an MSP, 20 of them at board level, through 11 M&A deals and the sale of the business in 2024. Since then I’ve worked as a board advisor to MSP owners across the UK and Ireland. Facilitating a peer group draws on the same skills as a good board meeting: a clear agenda, honest numbers, constructive challenge, and following up on what people said they would do.
What the group is
Network Group is a community of ambitious MSPs, IT resellers and retailers. Through its partnership with Evolve, members have access to the Service Leadership Index (SLI), the IT industry’s leading benchmarking tool. The aim, in Network Group’s words, is to run your business using benchmarking data and peer collaboration to drive performance and accountability.
Benchmarking on its own tells you where your business stands. It doesn’t tell you what to do about it, and it doesn’t make sure you do it. A peer group on its own gives you honest conversations with people who understand your world, but without hard numbers it’s easy to end up comparing stories rather than performance.
Put the two together and the conversation changes. It stops being “how are things?” and becomes “here’s where your margin sits against the best performers – what will you change before we next meet?”
Interested?
If you run an MSP and like the idea of benchmarking your business and working through the results with a group of peers, find out more about membership at network.group, or get in touch and I’ll tell you more about how the group works.
