Preview: Five Trends At N-able Partner Summit
N-able and more than 350 managed services providers and partners are set to converge on Scottsdale, Ariz., for the N-able Partner Summit. The event, which starts Oct. 14, could shed some more light on several managed services trends. Here are five topics I intend to explore.
Let’s start with N-able’s strategy. CEO Gavin Garbutt is set to unveil a “sizable investment” that enables partners to move forward, and he’ll discuss N-able’s overall channel enablement strategy for 2010, according to an N-able spokeswoman. In addition, the spokeswoman says, N-able will preview its upcoming 7.0 technology to partners in attendance (General Availability later this year). I suspect N-able will also reinforce recent partner momentum in mid-size businesses.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know…
Of course, I’ll be running around the conference asking a bunch of questions… including…
- Cloud Computing: N-able is available in on premise and hosted. But cloud computing noise across the MSP industry has become overwhelming in recent months. Cloud this. Cloud that. The noise will get even louder — yes, louder — in the weeks ahead as Kaseya and others make some cloud moves. But what percentage of MSPs will really begin to shift their on-premise solutions into the cloud, and how soon?
- PSA and RMM Convergence: It’s coming. My best educated guess is there will be at least one M&A deal before the end of 2009 that pulls the PSA (professional services automation) and RMM (remote monitoring and management) markets a bit closer together. I’ll be asking around at the event how MSPs feel about this potential convergence.
- The Application Wave: Most successful MSPs have mastered remote monitoring and management of PCs, servers, routers, switches, etc. But how many MSPs are moving to the application level? And which applications are they monitoring, troubleshooting and/or hosting? Plus, will MSPs host the applications on their own, partner up with larger MSPs, or jump directly into big software vendors’ clouds (like Microsoft Windows Azure and Business Productivity Online Suite)?
- Application Programming Interfaces: Plenty of software companies say they’re using APIs to plug into RMM and PSA tools. But how much of that integration work actually works? I’m hearing more and more complaints from MSPs who say some integration efforts are weak at best. That comment is directed to the MSP software industry as a whole, and not aimed at a specific RMM or PSA vendor (how’s that for dancing around bullets?).
- Have a Cigar: VP Mike Cullen and MSPs from around the world should be easily accessible on Oct. 15, during an evening cigar session. It’s a prime (off the record) opportunity (off the record) to hear what’s really happening (off the record) in North America, Europe, Australia and so on. But a lot of comments tend to be… off the record.
Now, two shameless plugs:
- Tune In: Stay tuned to our Twitter feeds (@MSPmentor and @TheVARguy) for updates throughout the week from four separate conferences: N-able Partner Summit, Oracle OpenWorld, the Avaya Partner Summit and Astricon.
- Meet Up: If you’re at N-able Partner Summit and want to potentially meet, send me email (joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com).
I look forward to potentially speaking with you at the N-able conference. Just be sure to let me know if the conversation is on the record — or off the record. Safe travels.
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Joe you are so right on #4. Our PSA and RMM vendors keep telling me their stuff works together but it really doesn’t. I can’t name names because we’re dealing with support people at both companies right now and I hesitate to point fingers on an open blog. The only advice I would give an MSP is to ask the software vendor if you can speak to reference accounts (real customers) that have successfully integrated their PSA and RMM tools. This is another of the annoying gotchas in the MSP market. I hope vendors are listening.
Joe,
Im looking forward to the Partner summit next week. Fresh out of college last year, my company sent me to the ’08 Summit as part of my orientation. Couldnt have had a better way to introduce me to the world of MSP. I am hoping to get much more out of the presentations this year now that I am no longer a noob. This year im hoping to pick up some good ideas on branding and expanding our marketing efforts. And as huge Cisco partners, im looking forward to getting some details on their upcoming partnership.
I would highly recommend this event for any N-Able partners or for anybody thinking of bursting into the market. Maybe I will run into you there.
John F.
MSP Sales
http://www.integra1.net
Allentown, PA
John F: Great to hear from you. Look me up at the N-able event. And you raise a great point about the synergies of being an MSP and a Cisco partner. I’m hearing that more and more. And we will surely add a few blogs about that soon.
-jp
MSP Myth: Thanks for backing me up. Let me know if/when you get the integration challenges solved, and how you did so. Thanks.
-jp
Great conversation about integration. Everyone says they do it but the real question is what is their definition of integration? Your definition of integration may not (is probably not) what the PSA or RMM is doing. From a sales perspective it appears that the expectation was not appropriately set.
Until there is consolidation in this market with an RMM and a PSA taking the plunge (#2) there will not be complete integration out of the box. Of course, someone could build a market disrupting application that is a RMM/PSA and really change the game.
Greg: We’re watching #2 really, really, closely.
Hi everyone,
I am very curious to hear specific comments on what you all consider full integration and what you believe is lacking in your current integrations. You are correct in that every PSA/RMM does things a bit differently. In some cases, there are limitations from the PSA, while in others it’s a limitation of the API provided by the the RMM. At Tigerpaw, we have integrations to N-able, Level Platforms, Kaseya, and Zenith. We handle asset synchronization, ticket creation, and automated billing. We have many customers enjoying the benefits that these integrations provide, but we acknowledge that there is always room for improvement. In fact, I just got off a conference call with one of the big 3 about a new API set that Tigerpaw will be taking advantage of – good stuff.
If any of you are using Tigerpaw and have questions on the integration, please shoot me an email and I’ll do what I can to help. If you are having problems with a different PSA provider, please realize that not all PSAs/RMM integrations are the same. 🙂
PS: Joe, it was great speaking with you at the N-able partner summit!
James Foxall
Senior Vice President
Tigerpaw Software
You moved around those bullets like you were in the matrix.