Quest Software PacketTrap MSP Adds PacketTrap PSA

Quest Software has taken the next step with its PacketTrap MSP remote monitoring and management software by integrating the professional services automation technology it acquired last month when it bought BlueFolder.

Quest has officially launched PacketTrap PSA and told MSPmentor that its PacketTrap MSP 6.2 version would include an integration between the RMM and PSA technologies. Existing customers will get a patch downloaded automatically today.  Quest reassured its MSP partners that it would continue to work with third-party PSA platforms as well.

Quest's strategy is not an unfamiliar one. Just look at Connectwise’s investment in LabTech. But Quest has taken it a step further by integrating the two technologies onto the PacketTrap MSP dashboard free of charge to MSPs who use the technology. (But to use the PSA software, MSPs will be charged on a per user basis.)

According to Matt Bolton, VP of product management for the network management division at Quest Software, PacketTrap is the only company to offer that type of integration for free. Other RMM vendors will provide integrations with third-party PSA platforms, but for a fee, he said.

What are the benefits of a tightly integrated RMM and PSA platform?

“Better profitability is one of the benefits,” Bolton told me.. “MSPs have the ability to know exactly what their technicians are doing at customer networks and customer sites and seamlessly map that to SLAs that the customer is paying you for. You can then decide what is outside of the SLA scope and bill for that. There is so much work that technicians do outside of the scope that aren’t billed for now.”

The billing cycle can also be accelerated because work can be billed right after it is performed rather than how it’s done now – with the MSP owner reconciling things over the weekend.

“We are talking about cutting 2 to 4 weeks out of the invoicing and getting paid process,” he said.

The integration can also provide a deeper look into the productivity of individual technicians. Are your technicians working on tasks that are billable? “Your profitability is based on your workforce and how productive they are in an eight hour day,” Bolton added. “If your technicians are billed at a rate of $100 to $250 per hour and you have 10 to 15 technicians working for you, if they are losing just an hour a day of productivity you are talking about $5,000 a month that you are not actually billing for. The numbers are actually pretty staggering.”

What’s the potential market opportunity here for Quest Software with its new PSA offering? Bolton says there wasn’t much overlap in the customer base between PacketTrap and BlueFolder.

“This opens us up to a broader market,” he said, even though he acknowledges that wasn’t the main push behind the acquisition and integration. “We wanted to be a single source solution for MSPs to run their businesses.”

How will companies such as Connectwise, Kaseya and others respond? We'll keep a close watch. Stay tuned.