An inflection point has surfaced in the managed service provider (MSP) market. Tech vendors must awaken to the revolution that is swiftly taking shape in the ecosystem as cloud computing adoption shifts partners' business models and blurs partner lines. We're entering a new stage of service provider development that will spawn what Forrester calls cloud-based MSPs (CMSPs). The formula for managing this new animal involves revamping and polishing partner programs to support the specific needs of the next-generation MSP ecosystem. This report will help channel professionals do so by outlining the evolutionary path CMSPs are on and the critical developmental issues they face along the way.