U.S. Job Growth Declines, Windows 11 Stagnates, Cyber Insurance Partnerships, CrowdStrike's Forecast

[00:00:02] It's Monday, June 9th, 2025 and I'm Dave Solt. Four things to know today. U.S. hiring keeps inching forward, so plan for growth, not betting farm. Windows 11 adoption has plateaued, meaning half the world's PCs face a support cliff. Cyber Insurance Marketplace UConn is wiring itself into MSP stacks and CrowdStrike's soft forecast reminds us that vendor concentration is an operational risk. This is the Business of Tech.

[00:00:30] The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the United States added 139,000 jobs in May, surpassing economists' expectations of 126,000, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%. This marks the third consecutive month of stagnant unemployment, maintaining a rate above 4% for the 13th month in a row.

[00:00:52] Revisions to previous months' job growth revealed a combined loss of 95,000 jobs, with April's figures adjusted down from 177,000 to 147,000 and March's from 185,000 to 120,000. Wage growth continued at a consistent year-over-year pace of 3.9%, with average hourly earnings rising from $34.89 to $36.24.

[00:01:19] The report highlighted the number of years, while the labor market was expected to be a significant year-over-year-old. The report highlighted challenges in the labor market, including economic uncertainty affecting hiring decisions, as noted in the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.

[00:01:38] ADP reported a slowdown in hiring from May, with the private sector adding only 37,000 jobs, significantly below the 110,000 expected by economists and down from April's 60,000. Marks a worrying trend, as this is the second consecutive month of weak job growth, raising concerns about potential economic challenges.

[00:01:59] Compounding these concerns, the Institute for Supply Management reported a decline in its Service Sector Activity Index to 49.9, indicating a contraction in this area. Economic analysts note that these results suggest a growing hesitancy in hiring and investment among businesses, particularly smaller firms, which are often more vulnerable to fluctuations in economic policy.

[00:02:24] And in a challenging job market, many individuals are compelled to accept roles that do not align with their skills or career aspirations simply to earn a paycheck. The article highlighted the experiences of workers like Sarah Cabellos, who, after being laid off, found herself in a position where she uses only a fraction of her expertise. According to Business Insider, the job search landscape in 2025 is characterized by a significant decline in job postings and a rise in long-term unemployment.

[00:02:52] A February report revealed that less than 40 percent of Americans are excited about their roles, reflecting a stark contrast to the pandemic's job-hopping trend. And human resources leaders are facing new challenges in developing and validating skills due to rapid technological advancements, particularly in artificial intelligence.

[00:03:09] According to CompTIA's sixth annual Workforce and Learning Trends Report, 91 percent of companies are focusing on skills development, with 57 percent of HR leaders expecting to increase their training budgets this year. The study highlights that 81 percent of HR professionals feel their organizations lack the necessary skills and talent to succeed.

[00:03:30] Key trends identified, including the growing importance of validating knowledge and skills, as well as the shift toward empowering staff to make their own training decisions. And new data reveals that artificial intelligence is already displacing human jobs, particularly in high-exposure roles such as database administrators and IT specialists.

[00:03:49] According to Ravello Labs, the share of tasks in online job postings that can be performed by AI has declined by 19 percent over the past three years, indicating that companies are hiring fewer workers for positions where AI can't be utilized. In March 2025, the CEO of Shopify mandated that managers demonstrate that AI could not perform a job before requesting additional headcount. Similarly, Duolingo's CEO announced plans to gradually replace contractors with AI.

[00:04:18] The trend is reflected in recent findings that job openings for roles with high exposure to AI have decreased by 31 percent, compared to a 25 percent decline for low-exposure roles. Despite initial optimism, some companies, like Klarna, are reversing course, acknowledging that their reliance on AI has led to decreased quality in service. Why do we care? Well, a positive take is that labor is still expanding, but with less gusto. A more negative one?

[00:04:48] This isn't a cliff. It's a plateau. Early reversals, like Klarna, show that productivity wins aren't automatic. Firms that dump staff too quickly risk service degradation and brand damage. Clients are hearing, replace people with bots. You want to counter that narrative with governance frameworks that strike a balance between automation, quality, and risk management. You're charging for the blueprint, not just the tooling. Budgets are forming around measurable competence.

[00:05:18] Packaging talent assurance alongside managed offerings creates a stickier revenue than simple staff augmentation. Service firms that certify skills, productize AI governance, and focus on sectors still adding staff will outrun those clinging to headcount-based revenue. Are you and your clients tired of the time-consuming ticket tennis of coordinating meetings and help desk calls?

[00:05:45] Wouldn't it be better to automate this process with a tool that connects directly to ConnectWise Manage or Autotask? TimeZest offers scheduling automation that gives you complete control of your schedule and eliminates the hassle of calendar paintball. As the only service designed specifically for MSPs, it integrates into your workflow and makes scheduling appointments easy on you and your clients.

[00:06:12] Plus, you can try TimeZest for free. Visit TimeZest.com slash MSBRadio and use the code MSBRadio to get 10% off your first year of TimeZest. User adoption of Windows 11 is experiencing a slowdown as the end of support for Windows 10 approaches.

[00:06:35] As of early June 2025, Windows 11 holds a market share of 43.22%, a decrease from 43.72% the previous month, while Windows 10's share has increased to 53.19%. Kieran Jessup, a research manager at Canalys, noted that despite the stall, the overall adoption is progressing as expected, with a forecasted monthly increase of 0.5% to 1.5% globally through October.

[00:07:03] Jessup also highlighted the impact of inventory upticks in the U.S., suggesting that Windows 11 now dominates the majority of Windows desktops in that market. Canalys anticipates growth in commercial shipments of Windows-only devices, projecting an 8.1% increase in the U.S. for 2025. Why do we care? This means one out of every two business PCs worldwide still run an OS that will lose mainstream support on October 14th.

[00:07:30] While you should never plan for this, Microsoft did blink once and could do so again. If migration stalls, Redmond might extend Windows 10 support or lower ESU pricing, reducing the urgency and shrinking refresh revenue. The plateau in Windows 11 share is not necessarily a failure. It's the calm before a necessary refresh wave. For providers, the winners will turn audits into backlog.

[00:07:54] Use automated discovery tools now to tag every Windows 10 device with upgrade eligibility, cost, and refresh priority. Productize the migration. Offer fixed-fee, secure-by-design bundles that combine device, config hardening, data migration, and e-waste handling. Stage AI capability, not AI hype. Package small, co-pilot-aligned workflows like meeting transcription that justify premium AI PC specs. And lock in the next cycle.

[00:08:23] Embed lifecycle monitoring and refresh triggers in contracts so the 2030 OS cutoff isn't another fire drill. Windows 10's sunset forces a hardware reckoning, guiding customers through a structured, value-centric migration rather than a last-minute scramble. Position service providers as strategic allies and opens cross-sell lanes for security, device management, and AI enablement. UConn has been making rounds.

[00:08:52] Blackpoint Cyber has partnered with UConn to enhance cyber risk protection for managed service providers. The collaboration combines Blackpoint's managed detection and response platform with UConn's cyber insurance marketplace, aiming to empower providers with real-time protection and smarter coverage options. The partnership will allow managed service providers to engage in more informed risk conversations, addressing increasing insurance and compliance demands. According to Mike Yang, Chief Financial Officer of Blackpoint Cyber,

[00:09:20] the initiative represents a scalable approach to cyber risk that merges operational defense with financial resilience. Cork Protection and UConn have announced a strategic partnership aimed at transforming managed service providers into cyber risk advisors. The collaboration combines Cork's real-time cyber risks insight platform with UConn's cyber insurance marketplace, enabling MSPs to effectively quantify and communicate cyber risks.

[00:09:45] The partnership addresses the critical need for providers to be included in insurance and risk discussions. With Cork's active risk monitoring platform, MSPs can gain real-time visibility into cyber exposure, while UConn provides underwriting-ready risk reports and tailored insurance options. GARDS has successfully raised $56 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to $84 million since its launch in early 2023.

[00:10:13] This capital will help accelerate the company's expansion in the U.S. and enhance its artificial intelligence-driven cybersecurity platform designed for managed service providers. GARDS aims to unify cybersecurity tools into a single platform, allowing providers to detect threats more quickly and efficiently. The company's platform includes features such as 24x7 managed detection and response, which combines automated detection with expert threat hunting, streamlining protection across various digital assets. Why do we care?

[00:10:44] UConn is buying seats at the MSP table, the cyber insurance marketplace spun out of Fifth Wall Solutions, signed separate deals to wrap its underwriting engine around Blackpoint Cyber's 24x7 MBR stack and Cork's real-time risk insight platform, giving providers one-click paths from telemetry to bindable policies. The money and partnerships all point the same way. Cyber risk financing is merging with cyber risk prevention, and MSPs are the connected tissue.

[00:11:13] So get fluent in insurance language now. And account managers to read declarations, exclusions, and retention terms. Align your security stack to underwriting questionnaires so you can provide controlled coverage on demand. You want to productize risks to premium reporting and use platforms like Cork or Guards or your own SIM data to show how hardening actions lower modeled loss, and share that delta on your business review slides. Security tooling is getting commoditized.

[00:11:43] Risk advisory isn't. Lean into the new seat at the insurance table, but protect your autonomy and liabilities while you monetize the convergence. CrowdStrike has forecasted second-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations, leading to a 5.7% drop in the company's shares following the announcement. The cybersecurity firm anticipates revenue between $1.14 billion and $1.15 billion,

[00:12:10] while analysts had estimated $1.16 billion. The disappointing outlook reflects a decline in government and enterprise spending on cybersecurity products, influenced by higher interest rates and persistent inflation. According to brokerage William Blair, the U.S. federal, state, and local government contracting environment is becoming increasingly challenging, which could further impact CrowdStrike's financial forecasts. The company reported total revenue of $1.10 billion in the first quarter,

[00:12:39] aligning with analyst estimates, and noted that the second quarter free cash flow would be affected by approximately $29 million due to outages and related costs. Why do we care? That July 2024 outage still hurts. CrowdStrike is eating about $29 million of free cash flow impact this quarter for customer incentives and remediation tied to last summer's record-setting BSOD debacle. For security-minded MSPs,

[00:13:07] CrowdStrike's miss is less about its solvency, more about client perception and portfolio resilience. Treat it as a timely nudge to reevaluate your vendor diversification plan. If every endpoint you manage runs one agent from the cloud, you inherit that vendor's operational risk. Leverage the pricing window. Use CrowdStrike's retention push to negotiate enterprise discounts or commit to consume models that improve your own margin. And productize continuity.

[00:13:36] Turn last summer's outage lessons into a paid critical update rollback or rapid re-image service so customers aren't learning in real time. Bottom line, CrowdStrike is wobbling, not unraveling. But the episode underscores that vendor concentration is a business risk vector. Providers who help customers balance security efficacy with vendor resilience and can prove it on paper will be the trusted advisors when the next patch goes sideways.

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[00:14:32] With Comet Backup, you're not just saving the data, you're saving the day. Comet Backup for the everyday IT heroes. Visit CometBackup.com to start your free 30-day trial today. Get $100 free credit when you sign up with the promo code MSPRADIO. Comet Backup. Be the hero. Save the day. Thanks for listening. Today is National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day and National No Apologies Period Day.

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