Building your Stack

A good MSP has a great stack. Efficiency in your stack is important for keeping your hard costs (licensing etc.) low but also for improving your efficiency and driving down your service delivery costs.

Your stack is central to everything you do as an MSP and it's central to everything you will do in HighGround. You will map it to your clients security, include it in your services and proposals in our packages module, and much more.

However, building a good stack isn't easy. There are so many bases to cover, so many ways to do it and a seemingly endless supply of products in the market.

Use HighGround to cut out the noise and focus on making sure you have solutions in all the right areas, and a shortlist of vendors you can check out. By using HighGround to build your stack, it also ensures everyone in your MSP is on the same page with a single source of truth.

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Your stack is made up of a combination of technologies and practices.

For each technology in your stack, you can link one or more of the tools you rely on every day. If the tool you use isn’t already showing in our list, no problem—you can still add it by using the search bar and selecting the blue “Add xxx”option. We’ve made this flexible on purpose, because we know every MSP has its own way of getting things done.

You can also attach tools directly to the practice types within your stack, helping you map out exactly what supports each area of your service delivery. Think of it as building a clear picture of your real-world setup, rather than trying to squeeze your environment into a pre-defined box. The more accurately you reflect your toolkit here, the more useful HighGround becomes.

Adding tools to your stack couldn’t be easier. You can browse through the available categories to find what you need, or simply hit the + button and search directly for the tool you want to add. However you prefer to work, getting your tech lined up in HighGround only takes a few clicks.

Once a tool has been added, its logo will appear in the middle section of your Stack page. From here, adding more detail is straightforward—just click on the logo to open the edit modal, where you’ll find all the fields ready for you to complete. This includes:

You’ll also notice a handy Potential Savings section when editing a tool. HighGround compares what you’re paying against the number of licences you’ve purchased, helping you spot where you might be overpaying or under-utilising a product. It’s a simple way to keep an eye on your spend and make smarter decisions about your stack—just another example of HighGround helping you work smarter, not harder.

With everything in one place, managing your toolset becomes less of a juggling act and more of a well-oiled process - exactly how it should be for busy MSP teams.

On the main Stack page, you’ll find the Stack Insights table—your at-a-glance snapshot of what’s really going on in your tech estate. This section highlights the overall potential savings across your stack, the total monthly cost of your current tools, and your average monthly spend, so you can quickly see whether things are heading in the right direction.

HighGround also digs a little deeper to show you where there might be gaps or overlaps in your tooling. If you’ve got three products doing variations of the same job—or one tool that could be doing a lot more than it currently is—the insights panel will flag it. The goal isn’t just to list what you own, but to help you consolidate your stack and get the most out of the tools you’re already paying for, rather than juggling a collection of point solutions that only do half the job.

Think of it as a friendly nudge from HighGround: fewer tools, better utilisation, and a stack that actually works as hard as you do.
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You have full flexibility to update your stack at any time—whether you want to add new tools, make adjustments to existing ones, or completely remove tools you no longer need.

To remove a tool: Select the icon of the tool you would like to remove, at the bottom of the edit modal click 'Remove', your tool will automatically be removed from your stack and all insights i.e potential savings, gaps etc will be updated.

Important: If the tool you want to remove is actively being used in HighGround - such as being mapped in a client's Cyber Score or included in a Service in the package module - you'll be prompted to take action.

Your stack is a core part of your service offering to clients and is used throughout HighGround.

When you've built your stack, it becomes much easier to map your clients security posture and build the services you will offer to clients.

Your clients cyber score is determined by what technologies they have. This process is a lot like building your own MSP stack. For each technology you will see a list of tools in your own MSP stack and another list of all high ground tools you can add for your client to this technology, if your client uses a tool we don't have listed you can also add this by searching for the name and selecting 'Add xxx'.
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If your client doesn't have a tool for a technology this is also an option at the bottom of the tool dropdown list. By choosing this you will be prompted to give a reason as to why they don't have this tool so you have it for future reference or you can select a reason from HighGround's options and let AI write up a quick response for you.

To learn more about this please read our Using AI in HighGround article.

You can easily build and manage services and proposals in HighGround that are tailored to your clients' needs. Here's an overview of the steps involved:

Create Services: Start by creating your services, where you’ll select the technologies and practices you want to include. From there, you’ll map these services to the tools in your stack, ensuring a seamless integration with your existing resources.

Create proposals: Proposals are made up of one or more services. This gives you the flexibility to bundle your managed security offerings in various ways, tailored to the specific needs of each client. The best part? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time - you can easily reuse the same services across different packages. This approach not only saves time but also helps keep your costs in check, ensuring your margins stay protected.

Apply a proposal to a Client: Once a client decides to purchase one of your proposals, you can apply it to their account with just a single click. The tools from your stack, which you’ve included in the proposal through the services, will be automatically applied to the client. This streamlined process saves you time and ensures the client’s security posture is instantly updated.
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By applying your services to your packages and applying your proposals to your clients your clients cyber score will be affected and your clients can see the real benefits of what you do for them.

To learn more about the packages module in HighGround please read our Building your services article.

Many MSPs tend to focus heavily on the tools they provide, but often fall short when it comes to meeting clients' governance and resilience needs.

While some MSPs may have these capabilities in-house, the majority choose to partner with MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers) who specialise in areas such as Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) and Offensive services, like Penetration Testing.

Regardless of the approach you take, it's crucial to define your position on these areas. This clarity will guide you in forming partnerships, deciding which services you will or won't offer, and providing clear guidance to your clients. Additionally, it ensures consistency across your team when it comes to communicating your offerings.

For each of the Governance & Resilience items, you’ll have the option to select Yes, No, Under Review or Partner. Whatever option you choose, you can add a note with relevant details to help keep your team informed and aligned.

As you become more familiar with HighGround, you might find that mapping your clients' security stack or cross-referencing a specific technology across multiple clients can be time-consuming when reviewing them individually.

That's where the 'Client Mapping' feature comes in handy. With the Matrix view, you'll be able to see everything in one glance, making the process much quicker and easier.

Map Your MSP Toolset Across Clients: This feature allows you to quickly map your entire toolset across multiple clients at once. It’s also a great way to identify which clients have - or don't have a particular technology. For example, you can easily search for all clients that use Email Filtering, saving you time and effort.

Map Your Clients' Governance & Resilience: Similarly, you can use this feature to quickly assess your clients' governance and resilience capabilities across multiple accounts. Want to know which clients have a specific capability, like an Incident Response Plan? Simply use this feature to find that information instantly.

With these tools at your disposal, managing your clients' security and governance becomes faster, more efficient, and less of a headache.